What Is Life, and What Is Real
by Bee the Gatekeeper
Summary: Steam Powered Giraffe fanfic. Eight years have passed since Peter "Pappy" Walter died. When the automaton Rabbit starts getting dreams about a familiar face in an unfamiliar place, a series of events is set into motion. Before it's all over, the lives of the members of the Walter family will have been changed forever.
1. I Was Waiting

He was walking through a carnival that had long since died and been left to rot.

"Where are you?" he whispered.

"Here!"

"I can't see you!"

" Rabbit… Rabbit… Rabbit…"

"She said my name, Pappy! Pappy?"

But no one answered. He rounded a crumbling wall and saw her. She smiled. He ran toward her but quickly stopped. Her arm was gone… her wings cracked, her antennae broken. One eye dangled in pieces from her face.

"Honeybee!" he cried.

"Why didn't you find me, Rabbit? Why? I waited…"

"I didn't know! I'm here _now_…"

She fell to pieces before his eyes.

It was almost dawn. A tall robotic man was wiping his chassis carefully with a soft cloth, which came away coated in flesh-colored make-up. He made sure every speck of makeup was gone and tossed the cloth down the laundry chute. No one had noticed the towels covered in flesh-colored makeup so far, so it seemed likely they never would. He slipped into the closet where he usually slept, remembering this time to remove the flower from his buttonhole. Fortunately, being an automaton, he didn't need much sleep. If he was lucky, his brothers would power on late, or find things to do other than disturb his rest.

A scream louder than any human voice split the air. The startled robot almost broke off the closet door in his haste to investigate. He knew the voice.

He ran for his brother's room, snatching up a spray bottle he kept around in case of "brother problems."

"Rabbit!"

Rabbit realized he was screaming. The Spine was squirting him with water.

"Stop it!" he yelled. His room was full of people.

"He's come out of it, Peter," said The Spine.

"Yeah…" said Peter Walter II, eyebrow raised.

"Oh, my tender teenaged ears!" cried his son, Peter Walter IV.

"You'll be okay, Pete. Thank goodness he's stopped, anyway. The windows were starting to shiver. What happened, Rabbit?"

"I… think I had a b-b-bad dream…"

"Bad dream, huh? Those happen..."

"But I d-d-d-don't sleep, Pete Two."

"You're a rare bird, Rabbit… you and your brothers do things no machine should be able to do. Why not dreams? Besides, The Spine here sometimes comes out of stasis with oil running down his face."

"Those are just leaks from leaning forward for too long," muttered The Spine uncomfortably.

"Of course they are, Spine," said Four, under his breath. "Just play along, alright?"

"Oh, right," he murmured. To Rabbit, he added proudly, "He's right. I cry like a little baby."

"Nicely done," said Four, grinning.

"But…" Rabbit began, "I've been having dreams every time I g-go into stasis."

"Well, congratulations! You're practically human," Four crowed.

Rabbit looked at him in disgust.

"Sorry."

"It's the same d-d-d-dream, almost every time, Pete Two."

That made a difference. Two frowned. "How long has this been going on?"

"A few d-d-days now…"

"When _exactly_?"

"I-I had the first one af-after we came in from Balboa Park. On Tuesday…"

"Were they just as bad as this one? Only we haven't had any screaming episodes until now."

Rabbit said faintly, "No… this one was w-w-worse."

"Well, that doesn't seem right," said Two, a little too cheerfully. "To the lab!"

Rabbit held his hands up defensively. "I'm fine. Just a l-l-l-little daydream…"

"Rabbit…" said The Spine warningly.

Under implied threat of spray bottle, Rabbit trundled after Two, sulking.

In the lab, Two said, "Alright, up on the slab, tin man."

"Copper!" Rabbit trudged to the table and clambered up.

"Temper, temper. That must have been a pretty bad dream. Want to tell me about it?"

The tools clanked softly as Two checked for loose connections. Rabbit's chest began to make little chuffing sounds. Two paused, concerned, and opened Rabbit's chest cavity to examine the workings there. Everything was fine, except that his bellows had begun to pump in fitful little puffs. Understanding dawned and Two nonchalantly wiped Rabbit's face with a cloth, removing the dribbles of oil leaking from his eyes. He was pleased, actually. When the robot was really upset, sometimes he shut down completely instead of crying.

"No," Rabbit murmured thickly, in answer to Two's question. He turned his head away. "I don't think so."

"That's okay, Rabbit. Maybe later."

The next night, Rabbit stood in his room, fighting off the urge to go into stasis. The others had long since gone to bed… with the possible exception of The Spine.

Rabbit was weary; he didn't need to sleep but he did need to rest, and he hadn't since Peter had finished his examination and declared him to be fully operational. That meant that whatever it was hadn't been fixed. He didn't want to have the dream again.

And yet he did want to… very much.

Maybe he could change it this time… humans could do that in their dreams, couldn't they? He really wasn't sure. But at least, a robot should be able to do it. And besides… _she_ would be there. Broken or otherwise, it was her, her voice. They all thought he didn't think about her. The Spine, in particular, had always shown sympathy but never really understood. Rabbit had learned to exist with it all, to carry on, but he had not forgotten. And this was all he had now…

"Honeybee…" he whispered, and let go.

His body slumped with a whirr of gears, slowing to a halt. Excess steam hissed into the stillness of the night as stasis took hold.

"Rabbit… Rabbit… Rabbit…"

"I'm coming…"

The Walter twins were watching a cleaning crew sweep up glass. The glazier's truck sat waiting in the driveway.

"This can't go on much longer, Three. It's only been two days since that first scream and look at the place! I can't figure out how to stop it..."

"What, Rabbit being Rabbit? I'm sorry, Two, but he does a lot of damage, we all know that."

"But a robot having nightmares? _And_ I think they're getting worse."

"Well, I think it's encouraging. Maybe he's evolving. It could be a good thing."

Two shook his head. "That theory has already come and gone. You haven't been here the last few days. This isn't evolution, it's the Big Bang."

"He still won't tell you what he's dreaming?"

"He's always too upset."

"Can you adjust his volume?"

"He needs it for performances… Besides, he's not a transistor radio. It's difficult."

"Well, put him on full shut-down at night."

"Again, not so easy. Sooner or later, we have to switch him back on. Can you imagine if he does that in the middle of a concert?"

Colonel Peter Walter III imagined it, and snorted.

"No, not funny, Three! _Not_ funny!"

"Not even a little?" His eyes rested on the glazier's truck. "Well, anyway, it _was_ a shame about the windows."

"He slipped into stasis in the kitchen, too, yesterday. I was there, you know, when the screaming started. One minute he's telling me about the kittens he and Jon found under the shed, when he goes quiet all of a sudden. Before I can turn around, there's not a drinking glass left in the house. I may have permanent hearing damage."

"So fix him. You know more about it. I'm not around him as much."

Two sighed sharply. "That's easy to say, _Colonel_, but he's running perfectly!"

"Well…"

"Right, as perfectly as he ever runs. He's what… fifty-four now?"

"Maybe he's getting senile."

"We're fifty-three. Are _we _getting senile? Besides… he was always senile!"

"You're thinking of Jon." Three stepped aside for a maid carrying a dustpan. "So what are you going to do?"

"Put in screens instead?"

Three chuckled. "That's not a bad idea. We probably should have done it years ago. Well… for now, shut him down until you find the problem. If not for him, then for yourself. And get your ears checked, or… why don't you at least go out for a while? I can stay here tonight. Take Mary and Four out to a picture or something. I'll hold down the fort."

Three settled in to the library. His brother had asked him to work on Rabbit while The Spine got Jon settled, but it had been a long time since he'd worked on his father's creations, and he knew full well that Two had tried everything he could possibly think of already. His brother would come back from his relaxing evening out with his wife and youngest boy, ready with new ideas, probably flip a little switch and fix Rabbit right up.

Soothing tones poured from the record player. Sinatra always made him sleepy.

He heard the mingled humming and hissing of an automaton entering the library. "I'm going to my room to shut down for the night, Colonel."

Three looked up. "We grew up together, Spine. You can just call me Pete Three, like Rabbit does."

The Spine's head tipped slightly to one side. "Like _Rabbit_ does…"

Three laughed. "You're right… what was I thinking? Forgot who I was talking to. Jon settled, then?"

"He's worried about Rabbit again. So I just shut him off."

"Did you tell him you were doing it first?"

The Spine tipped his head to the other side, puzzled. "Should I have?"

"Never mind. So how are _you_ doing?"

Stare. Hum. Hiss. "How am_ I_ doing?"

"Yes, you. Your brother is having another breakdown, apparently. Your other brother is a sloppy mess over it. How are _you_? Are you worried?"

"I'm fine, Colonel."

Three sighed. He could never tell if The Spine was just that in control of his emotions, or if he really didn't have that many. He used to seem almost human, but this visit… Three could have sworn The Spine was cutting him short. "Well, alright. You're fine. Goodnight, Spine. Sweet dre… um… well, whatever you have."

"Sleep well, Colonel."

Heavy steps retreated down the hall. The record changed songs.

"It's quarter to three… there's no one in the place, except you and meee…"

"Feels about that late…" murmured Three. His eyes slid shut.

The Spine went straight to his room tonight, fed up and ready for some peace. No stasis tonight. Just silence. Why did everyone have to make such a fuss over a few nightmares, anyway? Did he complain about his? Rabbit had always had them, too. They both knew it.

He knew he should feel some pity, but he was getting sick of it all. They had been fussing over Rabbit ever since 1933, the way a family tends to fuss over a sickly child, all because he surprised everyone by falling in love and nearly getting himself killed in the process.

The Spine sighed. Only Rabbit. And he had been just as concerned himself… in the beginning. But enough was enough.

He hung up his hat, locked himself in the closet, and powered down.

In the lab, Rabbit's eyes popped open.

He knew, now. The last few times, he had thought he could almost tell. Two had asked him to shut down instead of going into stasis, but he couldn't stop… he was so close. And this time there had been details. He was sure he could find it on a map.

He wasn't supposed to go out alone. He wasn't even supposed to be awake, but he didn't stop to wonder how he had come to consciousness from a full shut-down, or how he could have been dreaming. It didn't matter.

He had to see for himself, to be sure._ Just_ to be sure. She wouldn't be there, of course. It was just a dream, right? Rabbit, Jon, and The Spine had them all the time about the wars. They couldn't tell you anything you didn't already know.

He slipped upstairs, creeping around the best he could and peeking into rooms. Jon was shut down beside his toys. The Spine was locked inside his closet even though Rabbit had been switched off. Pete Three had dozed off listening to Ol' Blue Eyes. He heard no other movement in the manor.

He found the big Road Map of the Americas and flipped through it, taking a good look at the states between California and Louisiana. He slipped it back into its place and gathered what he thought he might need for the journey… a couple of old Boy Scout canteens, his small oil can, a wad of small bills that had been gathering dust in his room. He didn't spend much, but they still gave it to him, like his brothers… like a child. He felt a little jab of guilt as he slipped into The Spine's long overcoat and stuffed the money into its pocket. After a moment's hesitation, he returned to his brother's room and scooped up his fedora as well.

In the entrance hall, he disconnected his goggles, removed his hat, and stuffed them together into the hall chest. Settling the purloined fedora uneasily into place, Rabbit crept out the front door into the darkness.


	2. The Runaway Robot

Colonel Walter awoke to the sound of his brother shouting. He stepped out of the library as Two ran up.

"Rabbit's gone! He wasn't in the lab when I got up!"

"What?" Three wondered if he was fully awake.

"I should have checked on him last night when we got in…"

"Two! He _has_ to be there. He was shut off!" Three said, rubbing his eye.

"_You_ were here, Three! What happened?"

"Now, wait. Are you sure he's gone? This place is a labyrinth. He could still be here somewhere."

"I guess…"

"Besides, he's always putting on that stupid mustache and sneaking out to stare at people while they eat."

"He _is_ fascinated with eating…"

"That's right. He'll probably come in carrying a hamburger sandwich and the worst thing that will happen is that you'll have to clean him out because he tried to eat it."

The Spine walked out of the kitchen, his gleaming silver cranium reflecting a beam of morning sunshine.

They stared.

"He's taken a couple of old canteens, Peter. Also his pocket money and his little oil can," said The Spine, adding darkly, "And my long coat and… and my favorite hat…"

"Put on another hat, Spine. You're blinding me," said Three.

"Never mind that, get everyone searching the house! See if anything else is missing, or if he left a note, any hint about where he might have gone!"

He could have sworn The Spine's shoulders slumped as he stumped away to comply.

"Does he _have_ another hat?"

Two sighed. "I guess…"

"I guess everyone has a weakness…"

"Forget about the hat, Three! Money, water, oil? A real disguise? That proves he's really run off this time! What if he malfunctions out there?" He ran his fingers through his thinning hair. "Why would he do this?"

"Something to do with those dreams, maybe?"

Two gaped at him. "I am an idiot. That hadn't even crossed my mind…"

"Are you being sarcastic?"

Two fixed him with a strange look.

Three shrugged. "What were the dreams about?"

"I told you yesterday, he wouldn't say!"

"That's going to make it harder… But shouldn't we start trying to track him down? Even in a fedora and trench coat, Rabbit is not going to get anywhere unnoticed. Forget the gleam of copper from what little of his face people can see, there's also the steam and that little whirring noise he makes. Someone is going to notice _something_."

"But is he walking, taking a train?" Two clapped his hands to his face. "I hope he didn't try to drive again…"

"Poor brother. So much for your relaxing night out. Fear not, I can help. Time to scramble the troops."

"No!"

"Why not? We need to have men in every station if we want to intercept him."

"The last thing we need in for this to get spread around!"

Three snorted. "Suddenly it's about bad publicity?"

"Don't be stupid! You know we're always one step away from being declared a family of Frankensteins, making monsters to take over the world! People hear about a Walter robot going 'rogue' and it's over…"

"Rogue? He's gone, sure, but not rogue…"

"We're talking about Rabbit, Three. Never assume. And remember, he's had his scandals before. I'm sure not all of the public has forgotten about Honeybee."

"Honeybee… Two? Do you suppose that was what he dreamed about?"

"Maybe… It is consistent with his reaction to the dreams…"

"The screaming?"

"No… the tears."

"Oh… Poor Rabbit."

"Peter, Colonel…?" called The Spine from the front hall.

They entered to find The Spine holding Rabbit's hat and goggles. The robot's strained expression cut Three to the quick. _His brother has gone_, he thought, _and has left behind a part of himself_… On the other hand, he hadn't realized The Spine put so much importance on hats.

"Where were those?" asked Two, astonished.

"Stuffed into this drawer," The Spine murmured, barely audible.

The twins looked at each other. "Well…" said Three at last. "I guess we limit it to family, keep it nice and quiet. Just so we hurry up and get moving."

"Fine. I'll call Guy in, and I think Spine should come. We may have to bring Rabbit back against his will."

"Of course, Peter," said The Spine.

"I don't think there was ever any doubt that he was coming, Two. But…"

"Nothing else is missing, Pops," said Four, putting his head around the door.

"Fine. Can you tell your mother that Uncle Peter and I are taking The Spine to look for Rabbit?"

"Well, sure, I can tell her. But, I want to go, too."

"Son… you're only seventeen. Stay here with your mother."

"Rabbit's like my brother, Pops! Or at least my uncle. I want to help bring him back, too."

"Rabbit does have a soft spot for Four, brother."

Two sighed. "I suppose if you stay out of the way should any problems arise… That leaves no room for Guy, though."

"Welcome aboard, Pete," said The Spine.

"Thanks, big brother! Wait, what about The Jon?"

They all looked at each other. "I don't think he'd be much help on the trip," said The Spine.

"No," murmured Two. "And he'd worry the whole time, so..."

"Yes, better leave him shut off," said Three.

"Poor The Jon," said Four.

"So, as I was saying, Two… maybe Rabbit can cover himself enough with that coat and hat to keep from being noticed too much… maybe. But I don't think a six-foot-three silver chassis is going to pass unnoticed… so…"

"Well, I think…" The Spine began.

Two interrupted, "What do you suggest, Three?"

"It's going to take something more… how should I say this? Something with more coverage."

"Colonel?" The Spine said, eyebrows raised.

Two stared at his brother. "Three… are you sure about this?"

"I think the situation calls for it. You're right; it's too important right now to keep this on the down-low. So…"

The Spine took a step backward as they both rounded on him. "What are you suggesting?"

"Spine…" said Two gently. "I'm sorry, old boy. We have to tell you something that might shock and embarrass you."

"Quite right, Two. Spine, we _know."_

"Know?" The Spine said, eyes wide.

"About the nights on the town, Spine. The human disguise. The dancing. You like dancing, don't you… _David?_"

"Who's David?" asked The Spine, attempting to sound nonchalant.

"You know very well who he is. We've known for years, Spine," said Three, surging with guilty joy. He had wanted to say that for a long, long time.

The Spine's mouth clicked open and shut three or four times before he could speak. "How?" he creaked.

"Well, some of it was a guess… an accurate guess, apparently." He paused; The Spine seemed frozen. "Are you okay?"

"I feel… like I've been attacked with a can opener…" The Spine sulked.

"Now, Spine, don't take it so hard," said Two soothingly. "No one is angry about it. We knew you'd behave yourself. We just thought we'd let you have your little secret. But now your brother is in trouble. You need to be able to pass unnoticed and help us bring him back."

"Do it for Rabbit, Spine!" urged Four.

"Right…" said The Spine, straightening his vest as he resumed his usual composure. "For Rabbit. Very well, then." He stumped away down the hall.

Two turned to his son. "Well, at least go tell your mother we're all going."

"What? And miss seeing Mr. David The Spine?"

"I think we'll find another name for him. Anyway, you'll see him later. Tell your mother and pack some clothes. We can't waste anymore time."

They were packed within the hour. As Three zipped up his duffel bag, there was a knock at his door.

The door opened. A deep voice said, "We're ready to go."

Three turned. He didn't recognize the man at first. He had almost forgotten The Spine's disguise and realized with a start who was standing before him.

"Good grief, Spine! You have gotten _good_ at that over the years! I could swear you even need a shave. And where did you get that wig?"

"Pappy had it made for me when I was created. I used to wear it all the time, but Rabbit kept stealing it to make the broom look like a pony."

"Oh, yes… I think I remember it now. It's very nice. Looks real."

"Hrm… yes. Thank you." The Spine put on a fedora that looked exactly like the one he had worn the day before and headed for the door.

Four grinned and stuck his head out the window when they arrived at the car. "Slick disguise, eh, Uncle? I like the gloves, Spine."

The Spine nodded shortly and eased himself into the car, which squeaked under the strain.

"Scoot toward the center, Spine, or we'll tip over," said Two.

The Spine did so.

"Alright," said Two. "I guess we're ready. I'll start with the local train station and work outward from there."


	3. Big Suspenders

"See anything unusual?" cried the train station clerk. "Surely I did! Just before I closed up the ticket booth last night. Sunburned fella wanted a ticket all the way to Louisiana!"

"Sunburned?" said Four.

"Hush, Pete. So what happened then?" asked Three.

"Well, I told him you can't get all the way there on this line, of course! And I said he could find the bus station near the next train stop. So that's what he bought. Don't know if he made it. His jacket was on fire, you know."

"What? His jacket was on fire?"

"Well… not up in flames as such, but there was smoke coming from it. Must have spilled cigarette ashes on it."

Four snorted. Three smiled and gave the man a tip for his help.

"Alright," he said as the two of them walked back to the car. "To the next train station."

"What did he say?" asked The Spine.

"Good news, Spine," said Four. "Now you've got a smoking jacket."

"Oh, that's… I beg your pardon?"

It was a quiet night at the Midway Café. But then, it usually was quiet between buses. Amarillo had its night life, but they had better things to do than hang around the Midway Café.

It wasn't empty, however. A few quiet patrons sat scattered among the tables, nursing coffee or cigarettes and waiting for connecting buses.

"How's every little thing, Ed?" asked the proprietor, pouring a cup of coffee.

"Can't complain, can't complain," the deputy said affably as he accepted the cup. "Everything alright here?"

"Sure, just the usual. People get off the bus, people get on the bus."

"They sure do, Mike." He looked around, and nodded toward the corner. "What's the story with that one?"

"The one sitting alone, smoking like a chimney? Yeah, he's an odd one. Don't talk, won't let anyone get a look at him. Just sits and smokes and hums to himself. He came in on the midnight bus. Not sure where he's headed."

"You want me to go check him out, Ed?"

"No, leave him be. If I had to know the story behind every shifty character that came through here, I'd never get a minute's rest. If he was wanted, he'd be more worried than he is since you came in."

"Alright." He sipped his coffee. "What's he humming, then?"

"Don't know, Ed. Never heard it before. Real pretty tune, though."

Rabbit listened to the men speaking about him. They were too far away for human ears to hear, but not for his. He let each cigarette burn, puffing at it a little to keep it going and maintain the illusion. He almost had the knack of it. There had been a rough start when he found out that though he lacked human lungs, a steam powered singing robot did actually cough violently when he tried to smoke. Now he knew why there was no smoking in the manor. He certainly wasn't going to miss it when he could finally stop. He only hoped the smell would come out of The Spine's hat and coat, or he would be hearing about it for decades.

At least, the dreams had stopped now. He had struggled to stay alert for the first day, afraid to wake screaming in public, but had slipped into stasis during the tedium of the bus ride and soon came back to full consciousness without so much as a whimper… except from the person behind him who was, from her whispers, apparently startled awake by the sound of his copper skull striking the metal window frame when stasis kicked in. He had quickly pulled down the dislodged fedora and sunk deeper into his seat.

And now, he was nearly there. Just one more bus trip and he would be in Louisiana, a little further and he could track down the old amusement park that he had seen in his dreams. He was sure now he would find her. The feeling had been creeping over him the closer he got. What he would do then, he didn't know.

"Sunburned fella? I don't know about sunburned, but the girl who was working last night said she saw a robot!"

"A robot?" said Three, forcing a laugh. The others did their best to do the same, though the results were mostly taut and mirthless. This was getting more troubling by the minute.

"Yeah, some joke, eh? I suppose that must have been your sunburned fella. I told her she needs new glasses… or an earlier shift."

"Heh-heh, too true. So… Where was he heading?" asked Two.

"Bought a ticket for Baton Rouge, Louisiana. That route changes buses in Flagstaff, Amarillo and Shreveport. There's about a six-hour wait between them, all told, when you start that late, though… Most people don't head out at midnight."

"Six hours each, or six hours total?"

"Oh, total. A little here, a little there…"

"Right. Maybe if we drive it, don't make too many stops, take turns driving… say, do you have an address for the bus station there?"

The man wrote down the address. Three again handed over a tip.

"Why is it these tips keep coming out of my pocket?" he asked as they returned to the car.

"Because no one else is doing it."

"It's a courtesy, Two. I can't tell you how many scrapes a little incentive has gotten me out of over the years…"

"Congratulations. But they didn't ask for money. So… who's driving after my shift?"

The money was nearly gone, but at last he was in Louisiana. Rabbit refilled his canteens and oiled his joints in the station washroom, and went in search of information.

But though there were plenty of people about, he couldn't learn much. It was late, and there was apparently a party going on. Rabbit tried asking a few people, all of whom were either very busy or very drunk. He got caught in a crowd and ended up huddling against a wall trying to keep The Spine's fedora from being knocked off his head.

"You look lost, sugar," said a sultry voice as the crowd began to thin.

"I sure am… who s-s-said that?" He stepped away from the building and looked around. A woman was hanging out of a window nearby.

"Oh, hello there!" he crowed. "Do you know the way to the abandoned f-f-fun park?"

"Which one, sugar? We've had a few over the years."

He hadn't thought of that. He hadn't thought at all, except about Honeybee. It was all supposed to fall into place when he got here. Rabbit suddenly felt very lost indeed.

"That's a nasty sunburn." She tossed her hair and leaned out a bit further. She didn't appear to be wearing much. "Why don't you come on in out of the night air and rest a while? We'll take good care of you here, sugar."

Rabbit was rather touched by her generosity. But inside meant light, and light was not his friend. He took a step away from the building. "Thank you, k-k-kind lady. But I must find the abandoned fun park as soon as I can. Can you tell me how to f-f-f-find the ones you mentioned?"

"You stutterin' like an old Ford, sugar. You sure you don't want to come in out of the night air?"

"I only wish I c-c-could. But I really must go."

"What's the rush? It's blacker than tar out there right now. They say they's things out there done come from Hell itself, just looking for a city boy like you to feed on. They steal your soul and make you think you sold it."

Rabbit smiled. "Not me, lady. I'd give 'em a stomachache."

She smiled. "Still, you ain't gonna find much. Look, you seem like a nice fella. You don't have to come in here, but try to find a place to wait out the night. You come by tomorrow and I'll tell you every place I know, I promise."

"I guess…" Rabbit chafed at the delay, but she was right. It had been pitch black up until the bus had entered the city, and he had heard it was a swampy place… with his weight, he could sink into the mud and that would be that. "Where can I g-g-go? Someplace dark."

"Someplace dark, huh? Guess you don't want that sunburn anywhere too bright. A'ight, sugar, head on over to Zazu's, next street over. They playin' jazz all night long, and they keep the lights low and the music hot. You need a place to sleep, they got a few rooms, but all the rooms are probably full with the festival goin' on. You come back here tomorrow and ask for Annabelle. What's yo' handle?"

"Rabbit," he said without thinking. He'd meant to make up a name but had never made up his mind which one.

"I hope it's just a nickname. Get on to Zazu's and I'll see you tomorrow, a'ight?"

"Zazu's. Thank you, sweet lady. Won't you come, too?"

"No, I'm afraid I have to stay in the house tonight. If you asked me tomorrow, I'd be free."

"Oh, well, I'll be b-b-b-back when it's light."

She laughed, though he wasn't sure why. "Not too early, sugar. I got a long night ahead."

"That's twice now, Three. Why is it always when you drive that the tires go flat?"

"Magic. At least it was near a town this time. How about let's get a room while I find a place to get the tire patched? Four looks all in."

Four was leaning on the car, nodding and jerking awake alternately. It wasn't easy to sleep in a car next to a robot so heavy that he had to sit in the middle. There really was nowhere to lean and robots made lousy pillows.

"You're right. But he's so far ahead already. I don't guess we had a chance of catching up until he stops, what with getting lost so many times, and two flats…" He kicked the tire iron across the road, frustrated.

Three put an arm around his shoulders. "We'll find him, Two."

Two sighed and stared at his feet. "I really hope so. Well, alright. We'll get some sleep and get on our way in a few hours."

Rabbit slipped into the jazz club under the cover of darkness, smoke, and loud music. He found an empty chair at a table with a man sleeping face down on the other side of it, and looked toward the jam session going on at the far end of the room.

He'd heard bands like this in California, but there was something different about this one. Something all at once dark and thrilling, especially when the man in red suspenders was tearing it up on banjo on the small bandstand. If he hadn't been so worried about finding Honeybee, he would have enjoyed himself. But as the hours passed, he caught himself tapping his foot to the rhythm.

Somewhere around one in the morning, a man slumped into the chair next to him. "You play, boy?"

Rabbit jumped. "Play what?"

"You play music, fool. You getting' into the swing of dat t'ere. I done seen you gettin' into de sound."

"Oh…" Rabbit stopped tapping his foot.

"Don't now, boy, you go on have fun. Don't stop on account o' Beaux. I done come over to be friendly."

Rabbit wasn't sure what the man was saying. "Do you know of any abandoned fun parks around here?"

"Ayeee! Dat's out of de blue! What you gone lookin' for dat for?"

"I…" Rabbit realized he hadn't told anyone. The loneliness was creeping over him more and more. It had been bad enough back at the manor, telling no one. But there, at least there had been his brothers around him, people around him. Now, he was far from home.

Rabbit didn't like feeling alone. He wrestled with himself for a moment, and gave in.

"I'm looking for Honeybee," he said with a sigh.

"Honeybees? We got dem, sho 'nuff…"

"No, not honeybees. Honeybee. She's… she's a girl. She's…" He swallowed hard. "She's my girl. I… I wrote a song about her and everything…"

"Oh, now we gettin' someplace. Dis girl, you write a song about, she say she meet you at de fun park?"

"The abandoned f-f-f-fun park."

"Dat's one powerful stutter, boy." Beaux took a long pull at his beer. "What kind o' girl meets a man at de abandoned fun park in de dead of night? She ain't ask for a lock of yo hair, has she?"

"Oh, no… no, she c-c-couldn't…" said Rabbit, rubbing the base of his skull.

"Why you keep yo hat on inside, anyhow?"

"I… have a b-b-bad sunburn."

"Looks a little green in dis light. I think you startin' to peel. So… you gon' join in?"

"Join in?"

"In de music. Lot o' people join in. This ain't one o' dose club they all sit tight an' clap."

"This ain't one of those clubs they all sit…" repeated Rabbit. "Oh, I s-s-see. You mean anyone can sing."

"Dat's right. You gon' join in?"

"I d-d-don't think I know the music well enough." Rabbit was rather sorry he didn't. He could go for a little singing right now. Anything to keep busy until morning.

"Or maybe dat song you write was all talk. Maybe you don't know music."

Rabbit was indignant. "Sure I know music! I'm in a b-b-band!"

"Oh, you in a _band_…" said Beaux sarcastically.

"Yeah, I am!" snapped Rabbit.

"Then…" he went on, one eyebrow raised, "maybe you don' sing?"

"I _do_ sing!" cried Rabbit.

The room was strangely quiet. He realized everyone was looking at him. The last song had stopped just in time for the room to hear him announce, nice and loud, that he did in fact sing.

"Ayeee! Dat's what I like to hear!" cried one of the musicians in booming bass tones. "Dat's some spirit! Don' be afraid, boy. Come on up!"

Rabbit hesitated, but obeyed. The people in the room clapped politely.

"Whatchoo got yo' hat on for, boy?"

"He done got sunburn, Zazu!" cried Beaux, laughing.

"Aw, dat's a cryin' shame. A'ight, you want, you go on an' sing in yo' hat. We take it easy on you fust off. You pick de song."

"I don't know if you know the ones I sing…" Rabbit faltered.

"Sing dat one about de Honeybee! Dey can pick up from dere!" called Beaux.

"Shut yo' noise, Beaux. You want sing about de honeybee, boy?"

"It's not…" Rabbit said, feeling cornered. Could he sing it here? He really didn't know any other songs he could sing without his brothers. "it's about a… a girl."

"Oh, go on sing it, baby," said a woman near the front. "I could go fo' something sweet after all Zazu's noise."

There were a few chuckles from the room. "It _is_ sweet…" Rabbit murmured.

"Well, start her on up and I'll join in," said Zazu.

"Well… you'll need _that_ guitar," said Rabbit, pointing at an acoustic guitar propped nearby.

He stared at the crowd as Zazu changed guitars. He couldn't remember ever having stage fright, even when he had first sung this song. But he was far from home without his brothers, he was sure the song was all wrong for the room, he hadn't sung it alone since the day he wrote it, and he had never sung it outside Walter Manor.

They looked at him expectantly. The woman in front smiled encouragingly.

Rabbit crooned softly. The crowd called for him to sing louder, but Zazu struck a chord on the guitar, taking his key from Rabbit. Rabbit sighed and tapped his foot to set the tempo. To his surprise, his discomfort vanished into relief as he began, at last, to sing his song for someone besides family.

"You didn't have… to look my way…"

As the first rays of dawn lit Zazu's jazz club, Rabbit sat almost alone on the little stage. Beaux sat beside him, still humming "Honeybee" as had most of the other customers as they left. Rabbit was still not sure what had happened. He'd never meant to tell Beaux about it but it had just come out, and the rest was a blur. His song had always made the audience cry at Walter Manor, but the audience there had been family and friends who had known the story behind it.

It had made this audience cry, too. And they had asked him to sing it again. And again. By then, they seemed thoroughly taken with him and asked him to join in singing some of their songs. He'd played the accordion for a while, and they'd even liked that. He had picked up a lot, and had a few ideas for songs.

Well, one way or the other, the night had passed. He didn't know how early was too early for Annabelle, but he couldn't bear to wait any longer. Singing "Honeybee" for these people had been both therapeutic and stimulating; he felt more focused than ever on finding her.

"I have to g-g-go now," he told Beaux. "She's waiting."

"Whatchoo say? She done wait all night?" Beaux squinted at Rabbit. "You know, in dis light, I could swear you'us made of…"

"I sh-sh-should hurry!" cried Rabbit, tugging down the hat. "Goodbye. Thanks f-f-for the music, Mr. Zazu."

Zazu sat up from where he had been laying on the stage, his head resting on his rolled up coat. "No, no… Thank _you_, boy," he said sleepily, shrugging off his suspenders and laying back once more. "I sho 'preciate dat song… We gon' be sing dat Honeybee fo a long time, cher. You keep on singin' now… you got some talent. Come on back. Bring yo' girl, next time."

"Um… I'll try, Mr. Zazu. I'd l-l-like that. Goodbye."

He rapped at the door of the building where he had met Annabelle. The door was opened by a weary looking woman in a bathrobe.

"We're closed!" she snapped, and started to shut the door. She only made it halfway before she opened it again to stare at Rabbit. "You a little late for the Mardi Gras…"

Rabbit hastily looked down and murmured, "Could I speak with Miss Annabelle?"

The woman hesitated, leaning to try and peer under the brim of the hat, then shook her head as if trying to clear it. "_Miss_ Annabelle, is it? She's asleep."

"Oh, go on back to bed, Bertha," called Annabelle from an upstairs window.

Rabbit stepped back as the door slammed. "Miss Anabelle!"

"Rabbit! You're early. I was just about to head on to bed."

"Oh, I'm sorry…"

"Ain't you sweet? It's alright, sugar. I wrote it down. Here."

She tossed a folded paper down to him. Rabbit shot out one arm and snatched it neatly out of the air as it fluttered past.

"Good reflexes! Hope you find what you're looking for… or _who_ you're looking for." She winked.

"Thank you… Goodbye, Miss Annabelle," said Rabbit, wondering, as he turned away, how she knew.


	4. If I Only Had a Heart

"It won't be long now."

"Why did I wear my uniform? Did you know this place was such a sauna?"

"Hey, Pops, we're running out of water."

"Alright. We'll pull over at the next town. Three, just take off the jacket."

"Sure, it sounds simple when you say it like that."

"I'm also kinda hungry…" said Four.

"Seconded," said Three.

"Spine? How are you doing?"

"He's been in stasis for the last hour, Pops. He's trying to save water."

"Or you complained about the heat one time too many," said Three, "so he shut down his boiler."

"Well, alright," said Two, pulling off the road. "Here, we'll stop here. We'll get some… crawfish… fill the canteens, and head out in half an hour."

"What about Spine?" asked Four.

"Well, let him rest, I guess," Three suggested. "And hope nobody thinks he's dead."

"Very funny, Three." Two stared at The Spine, who sat in the back seat, slightly slumped, head hanging forward, eyes still opened, loose strands of wig hair drifting across his face. "He does look like he's dead, doesn't he?"

"I know," said Four. He rolled up Three's coat and jammed it on top of The Spine's shoulder, then carefully, so as not to spoil his disguise, tipped his head back against it. He clicked the robot's eyelids shut and set the fedora on his legs. "There. Now he looks like he's sleeping."

"Good enough. Leave the windows down, though. It helps the illusion, and it might keep his chassis from getting too hot. Don't want to melt that makeup."

"I think it's stage makeup, or paint," said Four as they headed inside. "I haven't seen so much as a gleam of silver since we left San Diego." The screen door slammed behind them.

Cicadas creaked in the undergrowth. A breeze fluttered in through the open window and ruffled the loose strands of The Spine's wig. A blue jay looked down at the still figure and, not sensing a threat, fluttered into the window to fetch the loose crumbs Four had left behind from hundreds of miles of sandwiches.

It darted out again to the safety of the trees when another car pulled in to the gravel lot.

"Well, would you look at that!" said a soft voice. Louder, it cried, "Hey! Mister! You're going to boil in there."

The Spine heard, from somewhere deep in stasis, someone calling loudly. He powered up automatically and stared around in confusion.

"Mister? You okay?"

He looked out of the car window at a young woman in a sundress. "Why, yes, ma'am," he replied. "I was just… um… having a little nap." I guess, he thought. Where is this place?

"You tired from driving?"

"Oh, no, I don't… that is, I wasn't driving. They… I mean, my… my brothers must have gone inside this…" He looked around. "Where are we?"

"Bodcau Bait and Crawfish. My name is Marie Landry, by the way. I'm sorry I woke you up like that. What's your name?"

"Oh… My name is The… David."

"The David?" she asked with a half smile.

"David. David… Walter." He peered out the window at the little roadside restaurant. "Bait _and_ Crawfish?"

"It's alright. They have terrific food. They just also have bait."

"Right." The Spine wondered whether the Walters knew what crawfish was. He also hoped they wouldn't accidentally get served bait. Either way, it would be interesting to hear them tell about the experience…

"So, you coming in?" she asked, smiling. A cloud passed from the sun and lit her hair with a golden halo.

"Hm?" murmured The Spine, eyes wide. "Oh, no, I'll wait here." He usually stayed in the car so as to avoid any questions when everyone ate except for him.

She frowned prettily. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Oh… they'll probably bring something out for me… I'm sure they've already ordered."

"So you're just going to sit out here in the heat and wait? At least come up on the porch. It's got shade, see?"

The Spine's chassis _was_ growing very warm. Until they brought more water, he needed to keep cool any way he could. He nodded and got out of the car, put on his hat, and followed her up the steps, trying to step lightly as they creaked under his weight.

She turned at the top and said, "You sure you won't come in? My, I didn't realize you were so tall!"

"I'd… rather stay out here," he replied. He wasn't sure how low his water levels were, but he was feeling weaker now that he was up and moving.

Her eyes widened. They were, he noticed, very blue.

"My goodness, I can feel the heat coming off you in waves! I tell you what, I'll get my lunch and bring you out a glass of water, alright?"

"That would be very kind of you," he said, relieved.

"I'll be right back," she said, hurrying in.

The Spine sank as gently as he could onto the old sofa. His remaining water made a hollow splashing as he settled in. Not sure how long she would be, he slipped once more into stasis, careful to shut his eyes first.

"Hey, you fell asleep again!"

The Spine forced himself to power on and looked up sluggishly. She held a glass of water.

"Thank you!" he said as he accepted it. He drained the glass all at one go.

"My goodness! And you're very welcome. Better?" she asked, beaming. She settled onto the old sofa and pulled up a rickety table.

"Much. I don't think I would have made it without that," he told her truthfully.

"Well, I'm sure I'm glad to help." She set about peeling and eating her plate of crawfish. "You sure you don't want anything? I have more than enough here for two. I hate to just sit and eat in front of you when you don't have any."

The Spine tipped his head to one side, bemused. "I don't even know you, Miss Marie. Why would you be so kind to a complete stranger?"

"Oh, shoot, it was just a glass of water." She nibbled corn on the cob. "Besides, you looked like you needed someone to be kind to you."

The Spine smiled.

"Would you look at that! The sun's come out of the clouds."

The Spine peered out from under the porch roof and Marie laughed. "No, silly, I mean you. You have a nice smile."

"I do? I mean… thank you, Miss Marie." He paused to look at her. "You… also have a nice smile."

She blushed.

"Your cheeks are turning pink. Are you alright?" he asked, concerned.

"Sure," she said quickly. "It's just the heat."

"Oh, yes. Of course."

The screen door opened and Four peered out. "I thought I heard your voice!"

"Pete!" cried The Spine quickly. "Yes, I woke up and I thought I'd just wait for you on the porch with this kind young lady. This is Miss Marie." As Marie turned to look at Four, The Spine quickly mouthed, _Da-vid! Call me DA-VID…_

"Who's…" Four wrinkled his brow, then said, eyes wide, "Oh! Yes. Pleased to meet you. Don't worry, um… Uncle David. We'll, um… we'll get you something, okay?"

The Spine relaxed. "I knew you hadn't forgotten me, Pete."

"No, I wouldn't forget my good ol' Uncle David."

"Too much," The Spine muttered, masking it with a cough.

"Right, then, we'll be done in a few minutes."

"Fine."

"We won't hurry too much…" Four winked broadly and slipped back inside.

The Spine, for a moment, wished he could sink into the swamp, until Marie turned her smile back in his direction.

"So what brings you out this way?" she asked. "You're not from around here."

"No, I come from San Diego, California."

"Oh! Well, that's funny, now. I'm heading out that way next week!"

"Are you… Where, exactly?"

"Los Angeles. I've got a sister there. She wanted me to fly, but… I'm not comfortable flying. So I'll be taking the bus. I leave in three days."

"That's a long trip…" he murmured, reflecting on what he knew of Rabbit's journey.

"Well, yes, but I'm _not_ getting on a plane. I… lost my fiancé in the war. He was a pilot." She laughed softly, but there were tears in her eyes. "I don't know why I told you that."

"It's quite alright."

"I just… I feel like I can tell you things… like we've known each other a long time. I guess that's silly."

He gazed at her for a moment and said sincerely, "No… it's not silly at all."

"You're so nice," she said, beaming as she peeled another crawfish. "So… you never said how you ended up here."

"Oh! Well… we're looking for my brother, Ra… ahem… rather urgently."

"Your brother? Does he live here?"

"No. He's, well, he's run off. We're very worried about him."

"Oh! Is he younger than you, then? You don't look very old… you're what, around twenty-five, hm?"

"Yes." He had never really thought about how old he looked. "That's exactly right."

"Same age as me! How old is your brother?"

"My brother is… younger. A teenager. So of course we have to find him."

"Oh, how terrible! Have you called the police?"

"Well…" The Spine squirmed… on the inside. He had never lied this much in his life, with the exception of his little evenings out. "He's run away before, Miss Marie. So many times that the police will no longer help us."

"Oh, dear. Is he a delinquent, then?"

This one was easy. The Spine had been thinking much the same thing for the entire trip. "Oh, yes, ma'am. He's… He's trouble, alright. But he's my brother, so I have to get him back."

"Of course you do! Oh, that's just the sweetest thing I've ever heard, David! You are such a good brother, coming all this way to bring him home."

"Why… thank you, Miss Marie…" stammered The Spine, embarrassed. If his flesh colored make-up had suddenly blushed pink, he wouldn't have been surprised.

A moment, later, Two came out. "We're done, Sp…"

"Hey, Pops!"

"What?" He stepped back inside. They heard Four speaking, and Two responding rather louder, "Who?"

Three strolled out immediately after, hands in his pockets. "Good afternoon, ma'am. Coming, Dave?"

Two followed, shaking his head. Four stepped out grinning from ear to ear, carrying the filled canteen and a packet wrapped in greasy paper.

"Oh, yes, of course… in a moment. Miss Marie, you've already met my nephew, Pete. These are my brothers, Miss Marie… Peter Walter II and… Peter Walter III."

"They're all named Peter Walter?" she asked, amused. "Is the one who ran off named Peter, too? Or is he named David, like you?"

Four laughed.

"Oh, no, he's named… well, he calls himself Rabbit," said The Spine.

Two, fed up, sighed huffily and went to the car, looking up at the thickening clouds with a scowl. The Spine watched him apprehensively.

"I'm afraid I have to be on my way, Miss Marie. It's been…" He stopped, at a loss for words.

"It's been charming," Marie offered. "I'm so glad we met. Maybe when you've found your brother, you can come back this way? If you find him before I leave, that is. I live in town, in the pink house next to the pharmacy."

"Pink. Of course it is…" murmured Three, smiling at something in the sky. Four took him by the arm and led him down the steps to the car.

"Has he been… you know?" whispered Marie. She made a gesture like she was drinking something.

"Oh, no… well, to be honest… At least, I don't think he has, anyway." He looked over at Three, who waved. It was possible… "Um, yes. Well, I don't know whether we can, but… If I am ever back this way, I'll be sure to come by and see you."

"That would be just lovely, David. Y'all be careful, now… looks like there's rain coming."

"Yes," he replied. He hadn't noticed.

He hesitated, fighting with himself. She was going to be just two hours away the next week, but… He couldn't ask it. She thought he was a man… not a robot. And if they had found Rabbit and brought him back by then, he and Jon… no, it would never work. Best to let the fairy tale end here.

Two, opening his car door, cleared his throat. "We have to get going, _David_…"

"Right…" He turned to Marie. "Then…"

She looked up at him, the rising wind ruffling her soft, light brown curls. For the first time in his existence, he found himself wondering what Rabbit would do. He'd never had a problem with the ladies in the nightclubs, but this was different. He knew he was never going to see her again. It called for something more, and Rabbit never held back when he thought the situation called for something more.

Marie smiled and held out her hand as if to shake hands with him.

And then he knew exactly what Rabbit would do… because he'd seen him do it. The Spine quickly took her hand and brought it to his lips. Her mouth formed an O of surprise as she blushed past pink and straight into scarlet.

"Goodbye," he murmured, forcing himself to turn and follow the others to the car. As they sped away, he turned his head to watch her until the thick greenery blocked her from his sight.


	5. All my life

Rabbit trudged along an old dirt road. He'd been to two of the four places Annabelle had listed. One had turned out to be an old playground, and the other a carnival. Perhaps he hadn't been quite clear.

But they were the only leads he had, so he followed the map he had committed to memory and directions from the locals and found it… Alford Road. At the end of this road was supposedly an old amusement park, complete with Ferris wheel and fun house. The genuine article.

The road grew steadily more overgrown as he went, but he wasn't concerned about that, except that it might conceal patches of swamp. He found a fallen tree branch and used it to poke into thicker clusters of weeds and brambles as the road gave way entirely to nature. It slowed his progress, but he fought the urge to set blue flames to all of it… he had a feeling this was the one, and he was too close to mess it up now.

The air was still and heavy as he pushed through a mass of mingled wires and climbing plants and saw it at last… a half fallen sign that read, "Alford Parc d'Attractions. Alford Amusement Park." Beyond it were remnants of buildings peeking out of undergrowth, bushes, and vines. He saw, as he pressed on, the Ferris wheel, also covered in creepers, in spite of which it still managed to creak eerily in the rising wind.

He froze in his tracks. He remembered this place.

There was a large building before him. Between the vines and peeling paint, he could see the remains of a mural of Honeybee.

He fought the urge to run. Even though the ground was a mass of thick growth, he was sure he could run through it. But he had done that in every dream, every nightmare. So he walked, discarding The Spine's things as brambles and branches began to catch at them, promising he would make it up to him later. He kept his fear at bay the best he could manage. If she was really there… he knew what he would see already.

As he rounded the building he saw a sign. "Honeybee House." And below it, her dais affixed to a crumbling wooden platform, stood Honeybee, just as he had dreamed.

"It's true…" he breathed.

She'd stood there for longer than anyone knew. The stripes on her dress were faded and flaked from the elements. Her arm hung uselessly from a few wires, cracked from exposure to cold, heat and moisture, along the lines of a clumsy attempted repair made years ago. Her wings, too, were cracked. She dimly recalled having stopped functioning, at long last, after which she was abandoned along with the rest of the park structures.

Now her only company was nature, creeping with gentle power over the forgotten and the unwanted. The only voice she'd heard in years, besides the hushed chatter of the young and curious in the day and their screams as they came to frighten themselves in the night, was the slow, eerie crik-creak of the old Ferris wheel in the winter mistrals and summer storm winds.

Then the men came, slowly through the undergrowth, saying nothing as they trudged. They came and looked upon her in wonder, and spoke a named she hadn't heard in sixteen years… "Honeybee." They said they had found her. They filmed her from several angles, spoke of plans and messages, and another name, one that had been written upon her thoughts for most of her existence… "Rabbit."

She almost moved then. She tried. But the power was off. All that had bound her to consciousness for several years was the slowly weakening back-up battery made by her creator.

Her creator. She had loved him as a father, but he had not believed she knew him. She had served him faithfully, following every command, responding to every greeting as he had instructed her, just as he had programmed, in hopes that he would love her, too.

She did it even when it meant breaking herself, breaking him… the one who had come and stared at her from a distance in the days before she was fully activated, who had shared with her a moment that had been, for her, both an instant and an eternity.

He had felt the same. Why else had he come so often to look at her before the demonstration, watching her with those eyes? Such eyes…

So why had he not come? She had waited. From carnival, to fair, to circus, to this, a small and forgotten amusement park, the end of the line, where she at last gave up and stopped following men's instructions, and was left to rot. She had waited for him everywhere they had sent her, and he had not come.

But, she realized, she had struck him, thrown him from her, after he had gazed with such longing, spoken so gently, smiled, sighed… and on that day had fixed upon her a look that had clearly spoken words she had never before understood, shared the moment that had seemed to last centuries. And then there was the kiss. She could still feel it upon her dangling hand.

She had been taught to greet them, to greet the people. To respond to what they did. Again and again she had studied the greetings, savoring the role she was to play. To greet all with a smile. What a lovely purpose!

And then one day, Secret had wanted her to strike them. _But why, Father? Who, and when?_ She had not understood. She had held out her hand, trying to reach her father, to ask for more information, and he had been angry. _Strike_ with your hands, he had told her. She wanted so to please him. But every time she tried to do it, he grew more frustrated. He had entered the programming, but had not explained the circumstance. Then time ran out for explanations.

Rabbit had knelt at her feet, had taken her hand and kissed it, and the weeks of intrigue and piqued curiosity changed in an instant; she knew what it was to love someone who was _not_ her father. It didn't seem right, to respond to this with violence, but Father had not explained. So she'd had to strike him… her beloved…

And now, after years of watching the people, of learning their ways, she had been given time to think. Had Father wanted her to hurt them? Or had he really been so unable to comprehend his own creation, so unaware of the science coming to life in his hands, that he could not program her correctly? That he could not understand she was alive, and loved him?

The torment of that moment! Her course had seemed clear, according to the programming of her dear father, until it came up against this new longing. He had held her hand. She had not wanted him to ever let go. But the programming was set, and she had not been able to stop.

And then it was over. Rabbit was laying far across the room, his brothers rushing to his aid, his father hurrying to join them. She'd had the tiniest glimpse of having them as _her_ brothers, too, tiny but crystalline, in blue and green, seen in _his_ eyes… _I was waiting for you all my life_, they had said.

But now it was all gone. She'd cried out to him through her own agony, her arm for the first time broken and dangling, but only the people in the crowd, who were as powerless as she was to help, seemed to believe in her distress. Ropes and large, strong men were keeping them clear of her as she wailed with pain and remorse and tried to break free of her restraints. Her father's face was angry… and more than angry. He rushed toward her, and she was afraid.

And then there had been darkness. She had never seen her father again. When she at last saw light once more, she heard his name spoken and gathered the truth, the terrible betrayal: she had been sold. He had sold her. She had killed her love for her father, and been sold.

But in time she heard still more from these new people… that Rabbit had been repaired, that he still lived and sang with his family, and only then did she dare to hope. She had struck him, but she had not killed him! For a time, it was enough. As time passed, though, she came to hope that what they had shared might also have survived.

_I was waiting for you all my life…_

_Then, my love, so will I._

And the men had gone… how long ago? Her battery was fading. She could still hear, still see out of one eye, but soon that, too, would go, as her arm had in the last storm. Yet somehow, she could still feel the kiss.

And then she had heard it. She thought she was imagining it again. She had imagined it so often. A buzzing sound… rising and falling through the undergrowth and debris… silence.

A whisper. "It's true…"

And then the sound again, growing louder. The creak of the platform on which she stood. A shuffling sound, a hiss of steam, the screech of her rusty dais as it was turned.

The break in his voice as he sobbed, "Honeybee…"

Her one eye rested at last upon his face, showing in the little flashes of lightning from the approaching storm. Two oily tears had already descended his cheeks. _Rabbit… How did you find me? Why can't I speak to you? All I could ever say was, "Hello…"_

He touched her face and she could only just feel it… time and the elements had done their work. Maybe she had never been made to last as he had. What her father had made, he had not understood. And now, she knew, she was dying. Until now, she had not cared.

"I knew you were alive! I knew… I'm t-t-taking you back with me, baby," he said, filling her at once with both joy and pain. "I won't let you d-d-d-die again."

_Again?_ _Ah, poor Rabbit… I'm already dead._

He bent down and began to loosen her feet from the dais. _No_, she thought. _Stay in my sight, don't leave me alone_! But still Rabbit worked, trying to save her, after all the years, even after what she had done.

The wind rose, noisily rustling the dry bushes and loose bits of carnival debris. There was a shimmer of distant lightning, followed in time by the soft rumble of thunder. She heard the clink of bolts as he untwisted each one, tossed it aside, and went on to the next.

The wind was so loud, and Rabbit was so intent on his work, that he never noticed the men.


	6. Chasing Honeybees

The Walters arrived in Baton Rouge three days after setting out from San Diego. Two was tense from the repeated delays and couldn't wait to get out and start searching. They had no idea which way Rabbit might have gone on leaving the bus, but surely he hadn't passed totally unnoticed.

It was dusk. The heavy rain that had pounded the car for the last leg of the drive was at last letting up when they parked the car near the bus station and headed out into the town to search for Rabbit. Posters and banners announced a food and music festival going on that weekend. Four suggested Rabbit's hobby of watching people eat combined with his musical programming might have attracted him. The theory didn't get much support.

They walked the streets, peeking into jazz clubs, looking closely at everyone wearing a fedora. Nothing surfaced.

Around eleven o'clock, the rain picked up again, so they stopped for food. Fortunately, here there were many options other than crawfish.

"We're not in California anymore," said Three, looking out the open door of the café. "These people barely even step under the awnings when it starts coming down."

"Well, what now?" asked Four around a mouthful of his muffuletta.

"For now, eat. After that, we keep looking. That's it."

"Ugh, some plan. My feet feel as big as life rafts."

"They are," said Three. "Plus, now they're swollen."

"It runs in the family," said Two.

The Spine had said almost nothing since that afternoon. He sipped his water and watched everyone that walked past, but Rabbit wasn't there. Of course he wasn't, he thought irritably. That was Rabbit all over. He takes your hat, takes your coat, and takes off. And everyone goes off in chase, enduring long drives, baking heat, spending piles of money, having to pick up and leave just when you're getting acquainted with…

Then The Spine's unexpected sulk was interrupted when he heard something that he could not believe.

"Peter…" he said. "Can you hear that?"

"I just hear a wall of sound, Spine. What are you getting?"

"I hear singing…"

"Yeah, that's part of that wall of sound. What is it specifically? Wait… can you hear Rabbit singing?"

"That's just the thing. I hear someone singing, 'Honeybee,' but it isn't Rabbit!"

"Come on, Spine," cried Two. "Three, Pete, you two go on eating. We'll check it out."

"Yes, boss," said Three, leaning back.

"Aww…" began Four. "No, on second thought…" He took another big bite of his sandwich.

Two followed The Spine like a bloodhound through the dark streets as he followed the sound, running from awning to awning, trying to keep dry. The entered a rather run-down looking alley and jogged through the downpour to a small club. Two could hear it now. They hurried in the open door.

There was, to Two's astonishment, a large, barrel-chested man in red suspenders playing Rabbit's song while a woman with a low, sultry voice sang it. Half the club sang along, some with tears in their eyes.

They walked in and sat, receiving a number of brief stares as they did so. When the song ended, Two hurried up to the stage to speak to the man.

"Sir, please excuse me… It's important that you tell me… where did you hear that song?"

"Pretty, ain't it? We done learn dat last night, from de Rabbit." Several patrons echoed this statement.

"Oh, so now he's _The_ Rabbit…" muttered The Spine.

"Where is he now?" asked Two quickly. "He's… my younger brother. We need to find him."

"Shoot, y'all, I don't know dat! He done gone out de place dis mo'ning like Hell was out to swallow him up, said he had to go find his gu'l."

"His… his what?"

"His lady friend, baby," said the singer, winking at The Spine.

Several voices in the listening crowd cried out to support this as well.

"Where he say he was fixin' to go, Beaux?" called the suspender man.

Another man responded, "He said she 'us waitin' fo' him at de abandoned fun park."

"Abandoned fun park?" said The Spine. The singer raised her eyebrows and smiled at him. He leaned away a little and asked, "Can you tell us where it is?"

"He never done tol' us dat," said Beaux.

"Well, thank you…" Two hesitated. He uneasily pulled a couple of dollars out of his pocket and tossed it into a hat the man had at the edge of the stage for just such a purpose.

"'Preciate it," said the man, with a smile.

"Now what?" asked The Spine as they made their way toward the exit.

"You know, I think I can help," said a voice. A woman in a slinky dress waved to them from one of the tables. "Y'all come on over here."

Two looked at her warily.

"Don't be shy, sugar. It's my night off. But I done I seen your brother last night." She held out her hand. "Name's Annabelle."

Two weakly shook her hand even as his face grew red. "Rabbit? He… you're not saying…"

She laughed. "He wasn't a customer. Oh, I asked him in, but I don't think he even knew what I was offering! He done asked me how to find the abandoned fun park, that's all."

Two relaxed. Annabelle winked swiftly at The Spine and laughed when he looked down at his hands.

"He was just the sweetest thing… seems to run in de family."

"Thank you for your help," Two said. "We've _got_ to find him quickly."

Annabelle's smile dropped. "Why? Is he in trouble?"

The rain came down in sheets. She had gotten used to that. It was alright for her. But she was worried. Was Rabbit waterproof?

_Once again, _she thought miserably as she watched the raindrops slipping down Rabbit's face,_ men have used me against him. Rabbit… you should have given up on me._

Rabbit stood before her, unmoving. His gaze was blank, the lights of his eyes dimmed. The men had taken the light. Then they had placed him this way, face to face with her, his hand holding her remaining one, and left them there, laughing at their joke. It wasn't even a good joke.

"No one's gonna find him here…" they had said. And they had gone with their prize as the clouds at last burst forth and the rain poured down.

She was glad they had such poor humor, though. It gave her as much joy as it did pain to be left with him this way. He didn't see her, but he was there, she could see him. But was he was really dead this time? No matter, even if he was, she would be soon, as well. His face had slowly begun to dim before her eyes. She was ready. He had come at last. If they had been human, she would have lain down beside him and died contented.

But she didn't want him to die!

Still, she remembered, he has his brothers. _If he found me, they will surely find him. I'm just glad that he came while I could still see him. I can't say goodbye, but then… he can't hear…_

The next day, she could no longer see. She could still hear a little… it was enough. A new sound came, more steps, more sounds of machinery, another hiss of steam. _Rabbit?_ she thought, but it was different. So was the voice, when it came… deep and loud.

"Colonel Walter! He's here!" More creaking. "Rabbit! Where's my hat? Rabbit? Creak. "Colonel! Peter! Hurry! Something's wrong!"

More steps… lighter, no machine noises… Human. "Rabbit? Wait a minute…" Clicking sounds. "Oh, no… no, no, no… this is horrible, it's impossible!"

"What is it, Two?"

"Three, over here! Spine found him, but his power core is gone!"

"No!"

"See for yourself. And Spine… is that what I think it is?"

"Yes, Colonel. It's her. Miss Honeybee."

_It's his brother! The gentleman…_

"You sure, Spine?"

"I'd swear to it, Colonel."

"What in blazes is going on? How did he know she was here?"

"Take a good guess, Three."

"I don't have one, Two, except that I figure it had to be Becile's goons that stole the core."

The gentleman brother spoke. "Peter, do you think Secret was involved in this?"

Honeybee felt a stabbing she had thought she could no longer feel. _Father…_

One of the men, angry, cried, "Whoever did it knew just what would draw him in. He may not be at the bottom of it, but yes, you can bet he was involved."

They fell silent.

_Father did this? _

"Poor Rabbit."

_He made me hurt him once, and now he's hurt him again!_

"We'll get it back, Spine. I swear it."

_Why did I call him Father? He helped them steal his life!_

"I know… but… he may not want it, unless…"

_He may not want his life back?_ It was too much. _I wish I could still cry…_

"Of course he will. Let's get him out of here. Can you carry him, Spine?"

"Wait…"

The platform creaked. She could hear the steam hissing close to her ear.

"Spine?"

"A moment…"

She heard a soft tap.

"What is it, Spine?"

"Peter… I think she knows we're here. Look."

"What, the oil coming from her eyes?" asked one man.

"Pappy always said she was just an appliance, didn't he, Spine?"

"I think he just said that for Rabbit, Colonel. I always felt… I felt there was more. So did Jon. And Rabbit never gave up believing that she knew him… and..."

He stopped, but she knew the rest. _Rabbit never gave up… dear Rabbit._

"I don't care if she sent him flowers and candy. Maybe there was more once, but look at her now! That's probably just a leak."

"Can you check, Peter?" begged Rabbit's brother. "Is there a way?"

More creaking. "Alright, Spine. If she is aware, then maybe we can at least find a way to power her up and find out if she saw what happened."

"Good idea, Two."

She heard clicking. A faint warmth touched the artificial matter of her fading brain. There was a soft sigh.

"I'm sorry, Spine. Whatever Secret made this of, it wasn't made to last more than ten years, and it's been nearly twenty. It's got a tiny spark, and it's a startling piece of technology, but that's it. How in all the levels of Hades did he manage this? The materials are garbage, but he has somehow created intelligence. How could he, though? He was all show business. And once he'd done it, how could he have been fool enough to just sell her?"

The low voice muttered something. Honeybee was shocked.

"What was that, Spine?"

"Oh… I was saying… um… Dastardly."

"That's not what I heard, Two. I heard bas…"

"Three!"

"Well, as it happens, I agree with him. I don't know if Secret really invented this or stole it from someone. And this means… She may have understood everything that happened to her… the accident with Rabbit, her father selling her, being left here for who knows how long, alone…"

There was a crash.

"Holy sh…"

"Three!" snapped Two.

"Come on, Four is at the car, he can't hear me. He's seventeen anyway. You know they say it."

"Shush. Spine! What's come over you lately? Are you trying to bring the whole building down so that we have to pry them out of the wreckage?"

_Them?_

_"_Why don't you take Rabbit back to the car? I'm sure Four is wondering what's taking so long."

There was a long hiss of steam. "I'm sorry, Peter."

"It's all right, big guy. I understand. Work through it. And don't empty your whole tank there." The hissing grew fainter. "Good man. Take your brother back to the car."

"What about Miss Honeybee?"

_Well, _she thought, instantly forgiving his profanity and apparent outburst of temper, and finding she rather loved him for them, _at least most of the time he's a gentleman._

"We need to remove her from her base. I don't know if her legs were made to stand without it, but the less we have to cart around, the better. It's going to be a tight squeeze as it is, and the car may not be up to the weight…"

Hiss… "Alright, Peter." She heard creaking, and then a grisly crunch.

"Whoa, you got him, Spine?"

"Yes. It's alright. The bottom step collapsed under the weight."

She heard the heavy steps moving away through the debris and undergrowth. _They've taken him away! _Their chattering voices were fainter. _But… they're taking me, too? _She could barely hear them now. I_t's too late…_

"That was close," said Two. "Probably should have had him get off the platform before he picked him up…"

"Did you see that, Two? I've never seen him lose his temper like that!"

"He's watched his brother going through all this. I can't blame him for being angry. I'm pretty angry myself. Seventeen years she's been tossed around the country, apparently. A self-aware robot."

"He's been pretty sullen since the bait shop restaurant." They both shuddered. "But do you really think she's self-aware? I mean, even if she is, it's probably too late…"

"Shh!"

"You _do_ think she can hear us…"

"Don't you, Three?"

Three sighed. "Those tears… Yes, I do."

"Then let's get started on these bolts, Three. Hey, some of them are already out… Looks recent."

"Then it must have been Rabbit! How did he do it?"

"He's a robot, Three. He has metal fingers."

"It still must have been hard. No wonder they were able to sneak up on him." He paused and cleared his throat. "Don't worry, Miss Honeybee. We'll get you down from there and into the car with Rabbit as soon as possible."

"Aw, that was sweet, Three."

"Shut up."


	7. Actions and Words

It was a long, heartbreaking drive back to California. The car did sag a great deal. They positioned Rabbit opposite The Spine in the back, and Honeybee was center front. No matter where a human sat, he ended up bruised.

But bit by bit, they worked their way home. Once there, Two took only a short rest before starting the process of searching Rabbit for hints about his attackers. The house was searched as well for any possible explanation of how they had gotten to Rabbit in the first place.

"I found this stuck to the house, hidden in the bushes!" Four cried, running into the lab the afternoon after they had arrived home. "Look, Pops. I think it's some kind of transmitter."

"How in the world did they get it onto the manor?" said Two, examining it.

"Careful, Pops. It might be booby trapped."

"And you just snatched it off the wall?" cried Two.

"Maybe I'd better take it, Peter." The Spine took the device and looked it over closely. "It's clean."

Two took out a small screwdriver and began to open the transmitter. Inside, there was a brief gleam of green light as the contents vaporized in a puff of dust.

"What the…" Two looked accusingly at The Spine. "It's _clean_, you said?"

The Spine looked at him innocently. "No bombs inside, at least."

"Are you sure you're up to helping with this, Spine? You've been really distracted since we came back."

"I'll be fine," The Spine muttered, wondering what Marie was doing just then.

Two tipped out the dust remaining in the little metal case. "Worried about Rabbit?"

"That's one thing troubling me, yes." He looked around the room. He imagined this was what a morgue must be like to humans. On one slab lay Rabbit, staring sightlessly at the ceiling, draped with a tarp. His clothes had been sent to be laundered to remove the layers of dust, grass, mud, and Louisiana rainwater. They had sent out The Spine's clothing as well… at the moment he had to make do with a pair of Four's blue jeans and a borrowed white shirt. He resolved to get an extra suit once everything was back to normal.

The Spine looked away from Rabbit uncomfortably and saw Honeybee. Two had been studying her before Four ran in, since there was nothing to be done for Rabbit. She lay across two card tables pushed together to make extra work space, her wide metal skirt removed and placed underneath with her fallen arm. The top of her head had also been removed and lay next to her face.

If he'd had a stomach, he would have been sick.

Four put his arm awkwardly around the automaton's shoulders. "It's okay, Big Brother. Pops can find out what's up."

"Come look at this," said Two.

They walked over to see. In the little pile of greenish dust were several flakes of copper.

"The copper parts in the device didn't break down all the way," said Four.

"It's not that… It looks like the copper was put in as flakes. It's like… like sympathetic magic!"

"That's weird."

"That makes no sense, " said The Spine.

"You bet your sweet… well, yes, you're right. Where's the science?"

"You sound disappointed, Pops," said Four, sitting down.

"There's nothing here I can work with!" shouted Two, banging a fist on the table. Four jumped.

"Peter…" said The Spine. "Please…"

Two looked at The Spine for a moment. "This has been really hard on you, hasn't it, old boy?" He sighed. "Alright. I'll get my act together." He took a deep breath and let it out. "Right, forget logic and science. Forget anything that makes sense. How about we assume that we are dealing with strange and superstitious people who use whatever means necessary to do their dirty work? Someone bitterly jealous of the discovery of Blue Matter. Someone off his ever-loving rocker. A man who found a way to target one robot by inserting the same metal that is contained in his cranium into a transmitter so as to send him messages through voodoo magic."

"It's not voodoo, Pops. There's science there."

"Don't say 'science' to me right now." Two shook his head. "So he managed to direct the dreams to all things copper. Good thing your mother's copper gelatin molds aren't sentient."

"Why are we still sitting around here?" asked Three as he marched into the lab. He had gotten cleaned up and put on a fresh uniform.

"Why do you still wear those anyway, _Colonel_?" asked Two, peering at the metal shavings. "You're not on active duty."

"We all know who did this! Why aren't we going after him?"

"Don't go military on me, Three…"

"Isn't it about time? Look at him!" He pointed at Rabbit.

Four got up and left the room, saying as he went, "I think I'll go play catch with Jon."

Two nodded to him and said to Three, "I still haven't powered up the Honeybee, Three. I need this confirmed before we go charging in, guns blazing!"

Three opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. He sat heavily in the chair Four had vacated. "So why are you looking at a little metal box and a pile of dirt, then?" he growled.

"Four found this outside the lab. It seems it was once a transmitter. It's self-destructed, however. But I believe this was how they got Rabbit dreaming about Honeybee. It must have been very specific."

"Alright, now you know how it started. Can you go get your confirmation, please, so we can finish this?"

"Yes. You're right. There's nothing else I can get from this." Two returned to Honeybee and aimed a small flashlight into her skull cavity. "Ugh! The layers of muck in here! But her brain is encased almost completely in glass." He whistled. "Risky. But it's done its job and kept things clean. I'm going to have to replace some wires here, but I have plenty on hand…"

"Fine!" exclaimed Three impatiently. "Tell me when you're done."

"Where can I find you?"

"Out back," he sighed. "Playing catch."

"That's all we can do right now, Spine," said Two, after a sleepless day and a half of work.

Honeybee sat on an old wheeled chair, cleaned and mostly intact. Her wiring had been replaced. They had found a piece of colored glass the right size to replace her broken eye, though it did not match. Two suspected Rabbit would appreciate the results once he was back online. They had removed her wings and filed smooth the rough edge of her broken antenna. Most importantly, Two had added some lubricant to her brain case and wired the entire assembly to run off a small generator. It was nowhere as sophisticated as the Walter robots, but that science wasn't viable for Honeybee. It might have brought her new life, but it might also have made her another person entirely. For Rabbit's sake, as well as their own purposes, this wasn't an option.

"How long do you think she'll last, Peter?" asked The Spine softly.

Two looked at him searchingly, but The Spine was looking at Rabbit. "I don't know, Spine. How about we power her up and see how well she runs before I make a guess? This whole thing might not even work."

"It _has_ to work."

"Alright, Spine. I'm powering her up."

The Spine nodded and walked over to cover Rabbit completely with the tarp. "Go ahead."

"Good thinking." Two flipped a switch in her back and shut the panel. The generator rumbled and came to life. "Now we wait for the power cell to charge. Unfortunately, for now she'll have to run off of those big batteries unless she's plugged into an outlet. Secret designed her for electricity, and I don't have time to convert her for steam just so that she can run herself on water like the rest of you. She'd need a power source anyway and, well… Anyway, once we get Rabbit's core back, I may try it. And we'll do something about those pedestals she's got instead of working legs. I guess she was never meant to leave the lazy susan foundation she was bolted to."

"Of course she was. He thought he was designing a fancy statue," The Spine said bitterly.

"He should have stuck to sculpture. She's really very beautifully crafted."

The power cell chimed and Honeybee's eyes lit up, blue and green and shining. She looked from Two to The Spine.

"Where's Rabbit?" she asked, and clapped her hand to her mouth with a thunk. She looked down at her right arm, at the chair, and back at The Spine. "You're his brother. The gentleman."

He tipped his hat. "It's been a long time, Miss Honeybee."

"It has… How can this be? Are we all dead?"

"We're not dead, and neither are you," said Two, leaning down toward her with a smile.

Honeybee stared at Two for a moment, then turned to The Spine. "Is Rabbit dead?"

Two straightened. Had she just ignored him?

"No, ma'am, he's not," said The Spine slowly. "But…"

"His light has been stolen by men."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Which men?" asked Two quickly.

She didn't even look at him this time. To The Spine, she continued, "A man made me what I am. A man made me hurt my beloved. A man sold me. Men have made me a toy for the amusement of other men. And men have stolen my love's life away. I do not wish to speak to men, or to hear them speak."

Two was speechless, but The Spine only nodded and said, "Miss Honeybee, a man has brought you back to life to save your beloved. There are good men in the world."

Honeybee seemed to see Two for the first time. "A man… is this, then, one of the men who came to bring Rabbit home?" she said uncertainly.

"He is the one man who would have done anything to bring him home, Miss Honeybee. In fact, three men came to bring him home, and brought you as well. We need your help to regain Rabbit's light."

She gazed up at him through her strange, flat eyes. "You can bring him back to life, too?"

"No," said The Spine. "But these men can. Will you tell us all you know of the men who attacked him, and what they did, so that Rabbit can be saved?"

She stared a moment more before doubling over, sobbing. The Spine caught her before she tipped out of the chair.

"Miss Honeybee?" he said, troubled.

"Thank you," she said brokenly, and sat upright. "It if it will save my beloved, then I will tell you all that I know."


	8. Dreams and Nightmares

"No! This is a lot more dangerous than when we were after Rabbit!"

Two, Three, and Two's son-in-law, Guy were on their way to the car, but it wasn't going smoothly. Four wanted to come, bitterly resenting his father's refusal.

"I can help!"

"Pete, you can't come!"

"Of course you can, Pete," said Three.

"What?" cried Two.

"You can help a lot. But your dad has to come and he'll be no use at all if he's worrying about you. Can you stay here, for his sake?"

Four clenched his fists, then sighed and unclenched them. "You always know how to get around me, Uncle Peter. Yeah… I'll stay. This time."

Jon and The Spine walked out of the house with a basket. "I made you some sandwiches!" Jon cried happily.

"Oh… uh…"

"I helped," said The Spine nonchalantly.

"Thank you, Jon," said Three, taking the basket and winking ever-so-slightly at The Spine. Jon and Four went back into the house.

"You okay with staying here, old boy?" asked Two.

"No," said The Spine bluntly. "But I will, because you want me to."

"Thank you. I'll feel a lot better knowing you're here to take care of things if… Look, Rabbit's power core is very dangerous. If something horrible hasn't happened already, it may yet do so, and… Well, there's just a chance that there's a little of Rabbit in that blue matter and that he will resist anyone who tries to misuse it. Given his usual care and subtlety, we may find the whole place destroyed and irradiated, or… blasted into the fourth dimension."

"I understand."

"Keep an eye on Pete and Mary."

The Spine nodded. The others waved briefly and left. The Spine watched them drive away.

He had never believed in precognition, but he had a bad feeling about this.

He went back inside and found Four sitting in the library sulking.

"I guess we wait," muttered Four.

"That's right…"

They waited.

A minute later, Four said, "Where's Jon?"

"Talking with Miss Honeybee. She likes him."

Four laughed. "Rabbit had better…" The laugh died in his throat.

"It's alright, Pete," said The Spine. "They'll bring it back. Everything will be fine."

Four shook his head. "What's it like, Spine? To be a robot? I know you have feelings, but they never seem to take control of you."

"I wouldn't say that," said The Spine, remembering several moments on the trip when his feelings had almost shown… and a few where they did. "Your father told you about the incident at the Honeybee House."

"Yeah, one fist through a rickety old wall. You didn't hit a human, you didn't tear the whole place down. You just punched the wall. That's self-control."

"Well, sometimes it's important to keep your feelings in check…" said The Spine, and stopped. How many times had he wished he could just let go and act on his feelings the way Rabbit and Jon did? But he knew he would regret it. It just wasn't his way.

"Yeah. Speaking of which… what exactly happened at that bait shop?"

"The bait shop…" He had been careful not to mention Marie, especially around the less mature family members. He had thought of her, on the other hand, every day.

"Yeah, why David?"

"Who? Oh, right. That's the name I use when I go out. I usually give my surname as Johnson, but given the situation, I thought I'd make a family connection and tell her my name was David Walter."

"No… I mean, why David?"

"Oh, that was Iris… don't tell your father or your uncle this, but… she didn't want to name them both Peter. She wanted to name one David, and one Christopher. I love Pappy, but I suppose he had a bit of an ego. Anyway, sometimes she would call us by those names when he wasn't around. Rabbit hated it."

"Hm… alright. So back to Marie."

"Pete…"

"You kissed her hand,_ David._"

"I was g-g-grateful…"

"Oh, that got you! Thought I was talking to a completely different robot there." He giggled merrily. "I _thought_ so! You like her, don't you?"

Why? Just… _why?_ "She was a very kind young lady."

"Uh-huh…"

"She brought me water when I needed it. It was a very kind act!"

"Needed it? Was your tank that low?"

Why did he always call it that? "My 'tank' was nearly empty."

"How romantic… there you were fainting with thirst, and an angel brought you water!"

The Spine stared at Four. "Is this _helping_ you in any way?"

"You know, it really is. I feel much better."

"Well, carry on then," sighed The Spine.

That afternoon, Two, Three, and Guy were parked a mile from Becile's lab… or at least, the address given them by Three's contact.

"If your FBI buddy is right, it should be right over there. How should we approach?" said Two.

"Wait for night, first of all. And pray that no one catches us."

"We really planned this well, didn't we?" murmured Guy.

Jon hopped up the stone stairs from the lab. The house shuddered.

"Honeybee wants to stay in the lab tonight," said Jon when he saw The Spine, who had come to tell him to stop hopping indoors.

"Is she plugged in?"

"Uh-huh."

"Alright. It's bedtime, Jon."

"Awww…"

"No argument. If you come along quickly, I'll tell you a story."

Jon hopped with joy and The Spine clapped a hand firmly on his shoulder to stop him.

"About me becoming a real boy?"

"Of course, Jon."

"Yay!" Jon ran for his room, The Spine hurrying after.

"This isn't right…"

It was nearly eleven o'clock at night. They had waited until the moon moved enough to allow them to slip in under complete darkness. But when they got to the door, there was no sign that anyone had lived there in years.

"Your friend said this was the place."

"Yes, but bear in mind, my friend works for the government."

Two tried the doorknob. The door opened to reveal a clean, well lit hallway.

"Well, looks like he was right," said Guy. "At least, someone lives here. Whether or not it's this Bessel…"

"Bec_ile_," corrected Two.

"Who is he, anyway?"

The others stared. "You came all this way and you choose now to ask?" Three whispered.

"Sorry…"

"Pappy's rival, the one who made the copper elephants, the one who's bitterly jealous of the discovery of blue matter?"

"Ah, of course."

Three shot Two a glance, as if to say, "_Your_ son-in-law," and slipped in through the opened door.

At the end of the hall lay a dead man, in what appeared to be a guard's uniform.

Jon had slipped into stasis after his story, a smile on his face. The Spine looked in on Four.

"Jon is settled and I'm just going to check on Miss Honeybee."

"Hm?" Four had been dozing over a book.

"It's late, Pete. Get some sleep."

"Not tired. M'worried about Pops…"

"Of course. No need to go to sleep, then." The Spine left, expecting to find the book on the floor in five minutes, below Four's limp hand.

Honeybee, he found, was rolled next to the table where Rabbit lay. She had somehow, with one good arm and a stump, replaced his tarp with a blanket and tucked it in around him. She was holding his hand. A small record player was on one of the card tables she had vacated. The record on it was Pappy's recording of "Honeybee."

He hesitated at the door. "Come in, Brother," she said quietly, looking back at him.

_Brother_. He smiled.

"Miss Honeybee. I came to make sure you have all you need. You can have a room if you like."

"I am fine here. I told Jonny so, but he wanted to bring me that." She nodded toward the record player.

That explained it. "Jonny?"

"He's still like a child. Will he ever change?"

The Spine shook his head. "He hasn't changed in over fifty years."

She smiled and turned back to Rabbit. "Good. He's perfect the way he is."

"How do you like your song?"

"I love it. It breaks my heart… or whatever man has given me instead… but I love it."

The Spine watched her for a moment. "You just sit and hold his hand?"

"Sometimes I speak to him. Maybe he can hear me."

"I'm sorry, Miss Honeybee, but…"

"His light is gone, and he can't hear? No one ever thought I could hear, that I could understand. So perhaps he can."

He's made differently, The Spine thought, but he didn't want to argue. She was content; that was enough. He sat down. "Perhaps he can," he echoed. "If you don't mind telling me, how long were you there?"

"At the park? Six years, I believe. I think I was the reason it closed."

"You alone were the reason?"

She stroked Rabbit's inert hand with her thumb. "I was in a lot of different carnivals and the like after they welded my arm back on and straightened my base. I was a sideshow novelty. Sometimes I was even used as a coat rack."

The Spine gasped.

"Sweet Brother…" she said, smiling sadly. "When I was sold to the little park, it was already run down. I heard it had been closed for a while, then someone bought it and tried to re-open. You could see the fresh coats of paint on everything, but the wood beneath it was warped. They made over an old barn into the Honeybee House. It was a restaurant. There was a crowd the first day they re-opened, but hardly any visitors the first summer. I think I was supposed to be the main attraction, but I no longer had the heart to follow my programming as I once had. The visitors were not impressed. You know, sometimes everything rides on that first summer. I should know by now.

"So they closed for the winter and never came back. They left me to die there alone. I had once hoped to see Rabbit again, but by then I had decided he must hate me for striking him after he so clearly showed me how he felt…" The song ended, but an attachment on the player sent the arm back to start it over. She pressed Rabbit's hand against her cheek. "How can his hand feel so soft when it's made of copper?"

"Copper is a soft metal…" The Spine murmured. Honeybee was, according to Two, made of steel, which explained the amount of damage she'd been able to take… and deliver.

But hearing about her ordeal had made him angry all over again. Worse than that, he felt guilty. "I'm sorry," he said softly.

"Sorry, brother? Whatever for?"

"Pappy tried to find you, Miss Honeybee. I should have done more to help."

"What could you have done? We are all the tools of men."

"We're not. Not here, not with Pappy. He's our father. He treated us as he did his sons. He loved us…" He paused, bridling his feelings. "We love him…" he continued softly. "And he would have listened to me if I had told him… we all had the feeling you were more than a tool, Miss Honeybee. And I never said so. Maybe he would have looked harder, and you never would have been treated so poorly. You could have been here, with us… with Rabbit. Happy."

She whispered, "It would have been lovely. You're right. But you didn't know. And now that I am here, I will appreciate what has been given to me far more than I would have then."

She was lying. He knew she was. He found it touching, in the same way that he was touched that she called him "brother."

"Thank you, Miss Honeybee."

"I'll be fine here with him, Brother. I know you must be restless waiting for news."

This sounded like the final word; she wanted him to go. She had certainly been programmed to be polite. The Spine wished her goodnight and left the lab, pausing long enough to see her lay her head against Rabbit's shoulder and close her eyes.

They ended up following a grisly trail of guards and people in lab coats, shot dead, every one. Some were shot in the back. The killer seemed to be trying to finish a job as expeditiously as possible.

Three had pulled out his own gun but Two had made him put it away, saying they didn't want to hit Rabbit's core by mistake. Three said he thought it was in as much danger from the lunatic who had done all these murders as it would be from him, but complied.

The door to the lab was opened wide. Two peered in and, seeing no one, hissed to Guy to follow him. Three hesitated in the doorway, uneasy. The trail of corpses was quite enough to show what they were dealing with, but the empty lab at the heart of it gave him chills.

The lab was large, full of the usual gear, with big control panels along the walls. Three didn't look at much of it. What caught his attention, as it did Two's, was a little glass enclosure; a room unto itself in the center of the room. In the center of the enclosure was a pedestal that held, resting on a cloth and hooked up to many wires, a gleaming blue power core.

"There it is! Let's get it!" hissed Two. "Before that lunatic finds us!"

"Wait," whispered Three, but the others were halfway to the glass door already.

He heard a familiar click.

"Hit the dirt!" he cried. Two and Guy lunged for the little room with the power core.

"No!" cried Three, as he hit the floor. He quickly crept around the wall and risked a look back at the glass room. Guy was by the door and Two had crept to the center and was trying to reach up without being exposed.

"Two!"

"Get out of here!" roared a voice from somewhere overhead.

A bullet pinged off the doorframe next to Three's head. He scrambled back behind the wall and started to reach for his gun.

The world was engulfed in searing blue-white light.

The Spine stared out at the night. They should have long since arrived at Becile's lab. He knew he should just go to his room and shut down, but he just as surely knew he wouldn't. Not this night.

His mind wandered back to his conversation with Honeybee. How could she feel the way she did about Rabbit after just a few scattered minutes of romantic gazing, seventeen years before? Then his mind wandered to thoughts of Marie, and for a moment he thought perhaps he understood.

The stars revealed nothing. They twinkled in the usual way.

And then they didn't.

It wasn't something you heard or saw, exactly… there seemed to be a flash of light… or was there? Something was different. What was it?

The room suddenly seemed darker, and quieter, as though it had been filled with fog. His chest began to feel tight. Maybe it was time to shut down for the night, after all. He turned to go to his room. He couldn't see the doorway.

The feeling in his chest grew quickly worse. There was a thunderous pounding in his ears. The room began to spin.

He fell to his hands and knees. What was happening? Was he malfunctioning? But he couldn't! Not now! They needed him!

His chest burned like fire. His head pounded. He'd never felt such agony! It was a relief when, at last, the room seemed to close until it was a pinpoint, and mercifully winked out.


	9. What the?

Three trembled from head to toe. He didn't know what had happened. He was afraid to look through the open door into the lab. He wasn't afraid of being shot, not anymore. He was afraid to find out who was groaning in there… and why there was only one voice. And why it barely sounded human.

He doubled up and retched. It helped, a little. He tried to stand but was trembling too much to get up. Dragging his sleeve across his face, he crawled around the doorframe to face it, whatever it was.

The glass room was empty. On its floor lay a set of keys, some buttons, various unidentified bits of metal, a handful of scattered change.

"Two… Guy…"

That's all that's left, then. That's all that's left…

"I told you to stop…" Three sobbed, sinking back against the wall. "You jerk! Why didn't you stop? Why do you have to be such a know-it-all?"

He heard the groan again and reluctantly pulled himself to his feet, holding onto table, and looked all around the room. Up on a balcony that circled the room, he could just make out a twisted form.

"Becile!" roared Three.

"Get out!" a voice roared back. "You did this! It would have worked! It was flawless…"

From behind a barrier erected on the upper balcony crept Ignatius Becile, one arm clutched to his side, staring down at the twisted shape beside him. "Norman!" He fixed Three with the look of a madman. "_You_ did this!"

"It was you, you lunatic! Both of you! It's his own fault he's like that!" bellowed Three. "They're gone, damn you! Nothing left but…." He couldn't say any more.

"Get out before I kill you too!"

Three would have cheerfully climbed up to the balcony and throttled the pair of them if his limbs hadn't been so shaky. "Fine," he spat. "The police are probably heading here already after that blast. But they aren't going to find the source. That's going back where it belongs."

He staggered to the glass room, tears flowing freely as he walked among the remains of his brother and nephew. The core sat as before, except that all the wires lay around it as though carefully disconnected and laid aside. Had Two had time to do that? Surely not…

Three wrapped the core in the cloth beneath it and walked unsteadily out of the lab, Becile screaming curses after him.

Peter was dead. He was there, he had gone with them, and he hadn't been able to save him… any of them. Just like the war…

The Spine woke to a scream. He was on his back on the floor. It was only when he stopped screaming that he realized… he was the one doing it. Four was bending over him, one hand clutched to his chest as if it was hurt, eyes wide with terror.

"No… it can't be…" Four was saying. "This is just like…"

The Spine, relieved that it had been a dream, tried to say, "Like what?" but couldn't seem to get the words out. The tightness began in his chest once more and he remembered all at once what had happened last night. The pounding began in his ears. It was happening again!

"Breathe, you idiot!" cried Four, still staring.

"Why?" gasped The Spine, but he complied and sucked in air. To his astonishment, the tightness vanished, but his head still throbbed.

"You were doing that when I found you, you know… breathing… at least, until… until you started screaming," said Four in a trembling voice. He took a deep breath himself.

"But…" He didn't need to breathe!

"Just relax and let it happen. It takes care of itself."

The Spine stared at the ceiling and did as he was told, confused. His chest rose and fell, all by itself.

"Have I had an upgrade?" he asked uneasily, and was startled to hear the difference in his voice. It was the same voice, and yet it sounded as if it was being heard through a long tube.

Four was sitting with his head against his knees. "Depends on your point of view, I suppose," he said in a trembling voice.

"Are you alright, Pete?" The Spine sat up and the room spun around him. He put his hand to his head and jerked it away with a start. His hat was off, his chassis felt warm and lightly fuzzy, and his wig was on. "I wasn't wearing this last night…"

Four looked up as The Spine grabbed some of the hair and began to pull. "No, don't!" cried Four a moment too late.

"Oh! What?" cried The Spine, reeling with a peculiar sensation.

"The word you're looking for is, 'Ouch.'" Said Four, cracking a nervous smile. He had tears in his eyes.

"What's going on, Pete?" The Spine snapped, scratching at his cheek where some of the hair had tickled it. He froze.

"That's what I want to know," said Four, his voice breaking. "Pops and the others aren't back yet, so I came looking for you. Jon is running around the grounds screaming, Mom won't come out of her room, and I was heading for the lab to see if you were there, when I found you… Spine… you…"

"What?"

"You need to shave, for crying out loud!"

The Spine stared. He needed a shave? But, he realized, he had just felt the stubble with his own fingertips. He held his hands up, astonished. Pink, _human_ hands!

"Pete…" The Spine suddenly felt afraid. His heart pounded painfully. He put one hand to his chest. "Oh! How… how do you stand it?" he groaned.

"What?"

"_This!"_ cried The Spine, hitting himself hard in the chest. "Ouch!"

"I don't know! You just do!"

"I can't have this happen now! Any other time…" His breathing grew faster. The room was whirling a whole new direction.

"Calm down! You can't panic! I'm already doing that! Something bad has happened to them, I know it!"

The Spine stared at Four. The boy was nearly grown, but his face was as terrified as it had ever been when he was a child, after a fright. "It's… it's okay, Pete…" he gasped, trying to sound comforting even though he could hardly breathe.

"It's just that I dreamed this last night! That I was in terrible danger and you had turned into a man, and couldn't save me!"

"Pete…" The Spine tried, at last, to calm himself. He crawled shakily to Four, unsure whether he could walk. Sitting beside the boy, he put his arm awkwardly around his shoulders. Voice trembling, he said, "I'd… I'd s-save you even if I was made of m-marshmallows."

Four surprised him by bursting into messy laughter. "You make a strange human. You sounded like Rabbit."

"But I don't st-stutter."

They both laughed, a little hysterically. The Spine was startled by it. He had laughed as a robot, and had thought it was the same, but… this felt fantastic! Why didn't people laugh all the time?

"Well," said Four at last. "So… You're human now."

The Spine pinched himself. "Ow! Yes, I am. What now…?"

"I guess it's time to see what else has happened."

"And see if I can walk…" said The Spine uneasily. "So we can catch Jon."

"Oh, no, Jon… yeah, we'd better try and calm him down. Maybe he's running amok because he saw you first."

Four held out a hand to The Spine and helped him to his feet. They practiced walking back and forth across the entrance hall for a few minutes, occasionally hearing a high pitched wail as Jon ran past the window. After the first few turns, The Spine threw up. He wasn't very successful at it… He'd never actually eaten. Four cleaned up the little mess and gave him a bucket before continuing, muttering all the while. The Spine couldn't make out most of it, but he did catch the phrase, "…Pinocchio from Hell," and felt rather hurt.

He was eventually able to walk on his own without getting sick, albeit slowly. He leaned against the wall to rest, opposite the entrance hall mirror. He didn't want to look at himself… and yet… he couldn't seem to look away. It was like his makeup, and yet...

"So you dreamed this, and then it happened?" he asked in his strange, soft voice, reaching up to poke himself in the cheek. "How in the world…"

"Not a dream. More like a nightmare…"

"But you dreamed it, and it came true?" He folded an ear forward experimentally. "How is that possible?"

"I wish I knew, Big Brother." Four laughed. "Hey, y'know, you _do_ look like my big brother now!"

The Spine looked at the family portrait hanging beside them, then back at the mirror, and smiled. That fascinated him, too. He made a few faces. "Pappy said he modeled our faces after his own… well, Rabbit's and mine, anyway. Not sure about Jon."

As if on cue, the wailing passed the window once more.

"You and Rabbit sound alike, too. Sort of."

The Spine snorted skeptically, which made him sneeze. In the mirror, his face was pinker. Four laughed.

"It's going to be a while before you get the hang of the plumbing, I guess."

The Spine pushed his nose to one side, then the other. "Do you… do you think it's permanent?"

"What? You being human? I'm not sure of anything. I'm not even sure I'm awake. But it'll be fun while it lasts, if it goes away." He looked out the window as Jon screamed past once more, and shook his head. "Do you _want_ it to go away, Spine? I thought you'd always wanted to be human…"

The Spine rolled up a sleeve to look at his arm. It had hair on it.

"Spine?"

"Hm?" He had been thinking of what to check next.

They heard the long wail coming closer.

"Sounds like he's inside now," said Four.

The wailing paused, started up again, came a little closer. It paused again, came still closer, finally bringing Jon pelting into the entrance hall.

"Don't let them get me!" he shrieked, leaping up on a bench. The bench popped ominously, but held under the weight.

"Don't let what get you?" cried The Spine in what he hoped was his old commanding tone.

Jon shrieked again. "That man stole The Spine's voice!"

"He _is_ The Spine, Jon! He's… _no time, keep it simple_… he's in his _human_ costume!"

Jon accepted this, fortunately. "The Spine! The elephants, the copper elephants!"

"Oh, no… don't tell me… Were you having a nightmare, Jon?"

"Copper elephants!"

"Tell me this isn't happening…" moaned The Spine. "If nightmares are turning real, and Jon dreamed of the copper elephants…" He looked at his two pink hands despairingly. "I can't fight them like this! How could we possibly…"

"They're coming!" Jon cried, jumping down and running to The Spine. "Save me!" he cried, clutching at his arm.

They each looked around sharply… and waited.

"I don't hear anything," said Four.

"Wait…" The Spine listened. "How do you use these soft little ears? I can't hear anything either!" he said, trying weakly to pry Jon off his arm. It was beginning to sting.

The next moment, it happened. Ten or so galloping copper elephants charged into the room from the hall. Each was no bigger than The Spine's fist.

Jon was in hysterics. "They're haunting me!" he screamed, squeezing The Spine's arm. "I killed them and they're haunting me!"

"Ow!" cried The Spine. Jon, surprised, let go.

"Jon…" Four began.

"It's okay, Pete," said The Spine confidently, rubbing his arm as he reached slyly around Jon's back. "I can always calm him down."

"How, Spine? Oh, wait, no, no… not like that! I really don't think you should…"

But The Spine had already done it. Switched off, Jon went completely limp. As usual, The Spine caught him under the armpits, preparing to carry him to his room.

But Jon kept falling. The Spine, eyes wide with dawning understanding, trembled under the robot's weight and fell flat on his back beneath him. He cried out in pain as Jon's weight pinned one leg and half his ribs and wrenched his left arm down to the floor. Four quickly came to the rescue, flipping Jon over to free The Spine as the tiny elephants scurried up and threw themselves into attacking Jon impotently with their tiny trunks.

"Spine!" gasped Four, sinking to the floor next to him to check for injuries. "You… are one impulsive human."

"I think my arm is broken…" The Spine groaned. He lay flat, the wind knocked out of him, raised his arm and bent it experimentally. "Is it supposed to do that?"

"You already _had_ arms, Spine; you should know," sighed Four. "I guess you're okay. Jon isn't as heavy as the rest of you are… were... whatever." He picked up a little elephant, which farted green smoke and wrapped its trunk around his finger as though trying to pull it off. Four giggled. "He was scared of this?"

The Spine looked at it from the floor. He ached in several places where Jon's weight had hit the hardest. "He's had no use for _any_ elephants since 1897." He took a deep breath. "I'm just glad they're small. He still has nightmares about the full sized ones, so I was sure..."

"Yeah, he had me scared for a minute. So what do we do with them? Or with him, for that matter?"

"Well," said The Spine, sitting up slowly. "I don't think they can hurt him, but maybe we should put them into a box before we switch him back on." He scowled at his still bared human arm, now red and throbbing from Jon's clutching and the crushing blow. A purple mark was beginning to appear. "Since I obviously can't put him into his room the way I usually do."

"Welcome to my world. Alright, I'll get a box from the lab."

Four hurried to the lab. The Spine patted Jon gently, surprised at how hard and cold he felt to human fingers. What must it be like to give a robotic brother a hug with a flesh body? The others weren't used to holding back. His arm throbbed in evidence of that.

"Spine!" cried Four, running in with a box in hand. "Honeybee is gone!"

"What? How?"

"I don't know! Rabbit's still there, same as before, with her chair right next to him, but she's gone! I thought she couldn't walk!"

"She can't… she…" He pondered for a moment, not liking the thought that was growing in his head. "She must be…" He sighed sharply. "Poor Miss Honeybee!"

"What?"

"If she had a nightmare, I'm pretty sure I know what it would be."

Three drove. He didn't know how he had gotten into the car. He just knew he had to get home with Rabbit's blue matter core and somehow put it back in. It was all that kept him going now, now that… that they were gone.

He wiped his eyes. How to get it back in was the hard bit. He did have some mechanical know-how. You didn't grow up Walter without learning a fair share of it. It's just that his head felt… wrong. He had stopped vomiting, and was no longer dizzy, but his head was throbbing.

The core hummed softly on the seat beside him. He hummed along with it.

"Ho-ney-bee…" he sang, absent-mindedly. He hesitated. Why was he singing that?

He realized in the next moment that it was because the core was humming it.


	10. Changes

The Spine stared at Rabbit and the empty chair in the lab, and ached. Tears rolled down his cheeks, hot and tickling as they met the tiny hairs on his skin. He let them fall.

Poor brother, he thought. Poor Honeybee. Of course, if she was where he thought she was, he could go and get her again… maybe pass through the town with the bait and crawfish shop. Maybe even find time to visit the pink house next to the pharmacy.

He felt, in the next moment, sick with guilt as he realized he wanted her to be back at the amusement park, so that he had an excuse to go. But how could he not want to go, now? Now that the primary obstacle was out of the way…

How had he not realized how smitten he'd been with Marie? How had he managed to convince himself that he was only grateful to her? He didn't know whether to call it love, but if it wasn't, then it must have been going that direction. Their time together had been brief, but he'd felt alive when he was with her, and dead again when he'd had to go away. He'd kissed her hand, just like Rabbit, not because it was appropriate, but because it was how he felt. And because his chassis had been warm with the heat, she hadn't realized he wasn't a flesh and blood man, warm, living, human. Just like she had thought he was from the start.

Just like he was now.

The tears started again, for some reason. He was puzzled by them. Other humans didn't cry this much.

He savored the words even as he tried to understand them. _Other _humans. Other _humans…_

He wiped his eyes as he heard Four approach.

"Got them all. I can't see any way to switch them off."

The little elephants rattled around in the box, trying to climb out and ultimately attacking one another. Four put them on a work table.

"Any clues about Honeybee?" he asked The Spine.

"Only a guess," he replied, sniffling loudly.

Four looked up at him searchingly. "Your eyes are red, Spine. You okay?"

"Yes… it's just that, I think Miss Honeybee must be back at that amusement park. That would be her nightmare, to be alone there… for Rabbit and the rest of us never to have saved her."

There was a tremor in his voice. Four hastily produced a wadded handkerchief from his pocket. "Don't start up again, now!" he said, giving it to The Spine. "Well, we can go get her again, I guess."

"If we have to…"

"It was a long drive, but of course, you could visit Miss Marie along the way…"

Maybe it wasn't so out of line for him to be thinking that, he mused.

"I could."

"You want to, don't you? _David?_" said Four teasingly.

Just as the tears had come out willy-nilly, a grin now spread itself across The Spine's face, seeming to bubble up from his chest. At the same time, his cheeks felt like they were on fire… a blush, he realized, dismayed. He looked down at his hands, embarrassed, but still grinning. He had no control at all!

Four laughed in spite of the dismal scene in the lab before them. "Spine… you're like a kid! It must have been a lot easier to control your feelings as a robot."

"It was…" he sighed, wistfully, picking up a cool beaker to press against his burning face. What other subject could he bring up? "Have you switched Jon back on?"

"Oh, no, I thought we'd better tackle that together."

"Right!" He put down the beaker, eager for a distraction, and hurried back to the entrance hall. He tripped over his own feet as he did so and grabbed the door frame for support, continuing more slowly. Four zipped past him and switched Jon on again.

Jon sat up. "They're coming!" he cried.

"No, we got them, Jon."

"You did?" He looked up at The Spine happily. "Why are you wearing your man suit, brother?"

"Um…" The Spine began, brushing his hair out of his face as though he had always had it. Before he could think of an explanation, they heard a strange sound… a tiny trumpeting, coming from under a nearby bench.

"We missed some?" Four wondered.

Jon shrieked and leaped to his feet, bolting outside the way he had come in, a dozen little elephants in pursuit. The Spine stared after him in wonder.

"They keep coming… How many did he kill in the war?" Four asked.

"Not that many! Well, we may have to switch him off again. If we can get him into his room first."

"Well, let's let him run for now… because I have no idea how to get him back in here."

Three was exhausted. He kept missing his turns and having to double back. He was almost positive that he was close to home, but had missed the way somewhere. At least his headache was gone. Mostly.

There was a small restaurant up ahead. His leg was falling asleep; he decided to get out for a few minutes and ask directions.

It wasn't easy walking into the restaurant. His leg didn't want to wake up all the way, but he got in at last and sat on a barstool. There was a hand written menu above the grill, but the handwriting was terrible.

Someone was speaking to him. A waitress.

"I beg your pardon?" he said.

She frowned at him, tipped her head to one side and spoke again.

"I don't speak Greek…"

His headache abruptly surged back. He clutched at his head and groaned. What was happening?

The waitress was shouting in Greek. A man hurried up and spoke to him… he couldn't understand. The pain twisted sharply. He cried out just as sharply.

"Make it stop!" he pleaded with the man, who was still trying to speak to him.

The room wobbled. His head screamed. He screamed, and something seemed to snap, like the cutting of marionette strings, and he slipped forward into darkness.

The Spine picked up his guitar. Jon was still running around the back forty with no signs of stopping. He almost seemed to be enjoying himself at this point, so they had decided to let him wear himself out.

Four had given The Spine a crash course in Humanity, Men's Edition, by telling him about eating, washing, shaving, when to use a toilet and, more awkwardly, how. He had also, very quickly and with much redness of face, given him a talk about cold showers and when to take them, something that had left The Spine dazed and uncomfortable. He'd had no idea… they had all made being a man look so simple.

By that afternoon, he'd done all of it at least once, except for the cold shower. He wasn't looking forward to that one. Four was in his room, listening to the news for any reports of car accidents. The twins and Guy had been gone since yesterday morning, and had still not called. Whether or not it was a coincidence that all this had happened while they were after Rabbit's core was still unclear.

He sat down to play, brushing his hair out of his face as he leaned down over the guitar. He strummed briskly and stopped. It stung! He thought fingernails were supposed to protect fingers, but his were throbbing. Possibly you got used to it? He tried playing more, and soon both hands ached.

He went to his drawer and found a pair of gloves he usually wore to conceal his silver chassis when he went out dancing. He put the left one on, found a guitar pick, and tried again. Much better. And he found, after a little practice, that he was no less skillful at it.

Now to try and sing. This worried him more. Before, he hadn't had to do much. He had but to form the words, and the voice had just come out. Well, there was more to it, but he had a whole new set of machinery to do it with, now. He took a deep breath and began singing.

"Goin' up the river… takin' all mah friends…"

He stopped. Was that how he was supposed to sound? It seemed… wrong.

He took the guitar into the library and put a record on. A low, mellifluous voice flowed from it, singing the same words he had just sung. His _old_ voice.

He stopped the record. Could he possibly sing like that now? He forced himself to try, drawing his breath from deep in his lungs. His voice cracked. Frustrated, he sank into an easy chair and fought tears.

"Spine?" Four stepped in and looked at him. "Good grief, are you crying _again_?"

"Give it a rest, Pete." He found his new inability to handle his feelings more than a little embarrassing.

"Oh, alright. Look, the news is nuts! Apparently nightmares are coming true everywhere! Armies of cows in the Midwest, walking trees, disappearing buildings! What's happening, Spine?"

The Spine wiped his eyes and stood. "It's got to be the blue matter core, Four. Becile has done something stupid with it…"

"I hope Pops gets there soon to stop him…"

"Yeah…" He didn't say it, but The Spine was afraid he already had… and failed.

Rabbit…

The front gate buzzer sounded in the entrance hall. Four and The Spine jumped and ran for the front door.

Four opened it and looked down the driveway. "It's not their car," he said, crestfallen.

"Who is it?" The Spine asked.

"A woman… wait… no way!"

"What?" He leaned around Four to look. A young woman stood at the gate, waving. The Spine's heart slammed abruptly against his ribs.

_Marie! _He had completely forgotten that she would be coming to California. He had never expected her to arrive at the manor, in any case.

He nudged Pete, who was grinning at him, out of the way and forced himself, quivering with every step, _not_ to run to her.

"Miss Marie…" he cried when he got there. "It's great to see you again! How did you find me… the house, I mean?"

She grinned. "Well, you gave me your name, silly! I hope I'm not intruding…"

"Oh, no, you're not intruding! But how did you find it under my name?"

"Well, it was under 'Peter Walter' instead of David, but I figured that must be your brother… one of them, anyway!" She giggled, and her cheeks pinked charmingly after. The Spine stared at her, enchanted. "There aren't many families named Walter in the book," she added. "Most have an S on them."

"Ah, yes." David. Of course. He realized she was still standing outside the gate while he was inside it and hastily opened it for her.

"Thanks!" she laughed. "I was wondering if you were going to let me in." She got into her car and drove it to the manor.

The Spine closed the gate and met her at the house, mind racing with the things he wanted to say. He said nothing instead. She got out of the car and looked around.

"This place is incredible!" she cried. "It's a palace, David!"

"I suppose it is pretty impressive…"

"By the way, how is your brother?"

For a second, The Spine wondered how she knew. Then he remembered that Rabbit was supposed to be a juvenile delinquent runaway only saved by the goodness of his loyal brothers… he still thought it wasn't far from the truth. "Oh, we got him back… he's… not here. He… um…"

She put a hand prettily to her mouth. "Oh, I'm so sorry, of course. I suppose you had to find a place for him… one of those special little programs for trouble youths?"

"That's an excellent guess, Miss Marie. We found the best one we could to shape up the poor lad. I for one have high hopes for him."

"Of course. I'm sure that between that and his loving family he'll come around and clean up his act." She smiled brightly.

He was basking in the brightness of that smile when he heard something that sent a chill down his now very human spine; the faint sound of Jon shrieking on the other side of the manor. His course must have brought him near the building.

"Would you like to come inside, Miss Marie?" he asked quickly, opening the front door for her. Four seemed to have made himself scarce.

"I surely would!" she said, walking in. "My sister thought I was crazy, you know, coming to see a man I hardly know, especially with all these weird things happening all over the place! But I told her I knew you well, that we'd been friends a very long time, and that the world had always been weird so why hide at home because of it? Besides, I… I wanted to see you again, David. I guess… sometimes you just hit it off with someone."

He hastily shut the door to keep the shrieks out. "I know what you mean." He hesitated. "And I really want to talk more about that… but… Could you wait here for me? There's something I need to take care of very quickly."

"Of course, David. What a lovely room to wait in!"

He smiled quickly at her and hurried out the back way. He no longer had the luxury of letting Jon run himself into the ground. If she saw Jon, or heard Jon call him The Spine, questions would be raised that he didn't want to address.

Four was watching the zigzagging robot and smirking. He looked surprised when he saw The Spine approach.

"Where's your lady friend, _Unkie David_? I tried to give you your space…"

"She's waiting for me…"

"I'll bet she is!"

"Pete…."

"Until the cows come home…"

The Spine shook his head. "Jon!" he cried, as Jon sprinted past.

"They're everywhere!"

"No, they're not… there aren't any in your room! Come and see!"

"What?" cried Four.

"Alright!" Jon pelted in through the door and all the way to his room, The Spine doing his best to keep up. He caught up with him just as Jon, standing in his room, cried, "Yes, they are! Look!" Little elephants were pouring out of the closet. He turned and stared accusingly at his brother. "Spine! You told me a _fib_!"

"I know, little brother…" The Spine gasped, winded, as he entered the room, shutting the door behind him. "But it'll be alright, I promise." Before Jon could bolt again, he lunged forward and switched him off. Jon sank neatly into his pile of stuffed animals. The Spine did his best to get him settled comfortably, and left, shutting the door behind him as the little copper elephants closed in on the pile.

He turned and found himself face to face with Four.

"Well, that was easy," said Four, eyebrow raised. "When you had enough inspiration to do it, you really came through. So… what gives?"

"Huh?"

"You aren't going to tell her who you really are, are you?"

The Spine tried to side-step around him, but Four mirrored his movement. "Is she likely to believe it?" The Spine asked, frustrated. "Besides, now I really _am_ the man she thought I was."

Four sighed. "Yes, you are. But, Spine… it really pains me to say this, but… I've been thinking. If all this has something to do with Rabbit's power core, how do we know it will last? Maybe once his core is back online powering Rabbit… You think maybe all this will, y'know… revert to normal?"

"I don't want to think about that," snapped The Spine, trying another side-step unsuccessfully. "Stop acting like Rabbit!" He pushed past Four and started for the entrance hall.

"I like acting like Rabbit," said Four quietly. "I love Rabbit!"

The Spine froze in his tracks at these words, sighing deeply. "So do I, Pete," he murmured without turning around. "I'll do the right thing. I promise."

"Spine," Four said gently, putting his hand on his shoulder. "What happens if I'm right about this?"

"If you're right… then… I guess I just want to have the chance to be a man while I still can."

He gently shrugged off Four's hand and hurried away.

"So he just collapsed?"

"Yeah," replied Stacy, wiping the long counter. "After coming in and talking gibberish. For a minute I thought he was Greek… but no, the men who brought the ambulance said he'd had a stroke."

"Poor fella."

"Yeah. Oh, hey… Is that your car, mister?" she asked pointing to one in front of the restaurant.

"Sure isn't." replied the customer.

"Oh, brother! I didn't even think of that. Hey, Jake, could you call the cops and tell them we got a car here that might belong to that guy they took out of here this morning?"

"Sure thing, Stacy," said a youngish boy, jogging off to obey.

"So, anyway," continued Stacy. "They couldn't even find any I.D. on the poor fella."

"Well, maybe there's some in his car. You want me to go check?"

"No… I don't want any trouble. Say, you heard about all that weird stuff goin' on in town?"

"Heard? I've seen it. Let me tell you…"

In the car, bundled in a soft cloth, Rabbit's power core hummed quietly to itself, as though the world, or at least an audience, was humming along with it.


	11. Being David Walter

She was holding his hand. It was getting a little sweaty, but he didn't mind.

The Spine had managed to find the petty cash and took Marie out to dinner. Four had apparently come around to The Spine's way of thinking and had advised it, and suggested, with a wink, that he take her dancing. Tempting as that had been, however, he wasn't sure he was ready for dancing in his new body. What's more, he looked almost exactly like he usually did in his makeup; Marie certainly hadn't noticed a difference. As such, he would be recognized by the regulars at his favorite places, and that meant women. A lot of women. He had only ever danced with them, but it would look bad; even he knew that.

So they ate at a local restaurant and went for a walk in the park after. The summer evening was warm… something The Spine had never really noticed in the past. He did now, realizing his black shirt and vest were not the most pleasant clothes to wear even in the late evening sunshine. The vest was draped over his free arm now, along with his tie.

The chimes tolled seven o'clock. Marie sighed and squeezed his hand. "I'll have to go soon…" she said sadly. "I have a long drive ahead."

"Oh…" He swallowed hard against the surge of dismay this raised. He didn't need more tears right now. "Of course. I don't want you to be out too late."

They turned toward Walter Manor. Neither seemed inclined to hurry.

"Photograph, sir?"

A man carrying a camera beamed at them both. Beside him was a cart displaying an array of his photographs.

"Color or black and white. If you want color, however, there's an extra charge. Also, the photo will have to be delivered to you later… but it's worth the wait, isn't it, for a picture with such a beautiful young lady?"

The Spine had been prepared to politely refuse and resume their walk, but the photographer had his number. He stood with Marie for the photo, and happily paid the extra money for color. Whatever the future held for the two of them, he would have this, at least.

"The portrait should arrive in two days. Thank you very much, sir. Oh! Where should I send it?"

"Walter Manor, on the other side of the park."

"Oh! Yes, of course, sir. Thank you for your patronage."

Marie grinned as they walked away. "He seemed impressed. You just became a 'sir.'"

"I'm just glad he wasn't scared."

She laughed. Of course, she didn't know how true it was.

As they approached its gates, The Spine summoned his courage and said, "Can you come back?"

"Surely I could! My sister could only take a few days off work for my visit, so most of my days are mine to spend as I see fit."

"That's wonderful!" he said, a little too brightly. "Um… I mean… when can you come back?"

She smiled. "Well, I don't want to be a pest… I'm sure you have things to do."

Yes and no… "I actually have a lot of free time myself just now. Can you come tomorrow?"

She looked at him coyly. "So soon, David?"

"Oh… well, if you don't want to…"

"No, I do want to."

"Although, that's a lot of driving… Maybe you could just stay here tonight."

She blushed until she was almost purple. Four's awkward "cold shower" lecture came slamming back into his head and his own face began to burn. The sensation, to his dismay, continued down to his newly minted belly button. Stupid!

"I didn't mean it that way!" he cried. "I just meant that we have a lot of beds… I mean rooms!"

She laughed. So did he. As before, it was a relief. He had thought humans only laughed out of amusement, but it seemed they also did it to relieve tension. Who knew?

"That's very sweet of you, David. Maybe… another time." Her eyes lingered on his meaningfully and suddenly his neck felt like it was on fire.

They walked up to her car. As he leaned down to open the door for her, she turned, took his face in her hands, and kissed him. Startled, he clutched at the half-opened door with a grip that would, just one day before, have crushed it flat.

She took his hands from the door and drew him close. His heart was pounding in his ears again. _I can't give this up_, he realized, touching her face as she rested her head against his chest. _How can I go back now?_

But what about Rabbit? His older brother, lying as if dead in the lab. And The Spine had promised to do the right thing…

But if Four was right…

The Spine… for now David Walter, human… wrapped both arms around Marie and rested his head on hers, almost afraid to let go.

"It's late," he forced himself to say.

"I know." She sighed. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow." Gently slipping out of his arms, she got into her car.

He watched her drive away and went inside to complete his crash course in how to be a man by taking a very cold shower.

"John Doe. Stroke. Patient appears to be in his late 40s to early 50s. Have sent copies of fingerprints to the U.S. Army for identification due to patient's wearing an Army uniform. Have requested rush on their response due to severity of the patient's condition."

Marie arrived the next day in time for lunch. They were only able to offer her ham sandwiches, but she was as delighted with them as she had been with her plate of crawfish.

The meal was friendly, but awkward, as Four tried to make conversation with each of them only to realize neither was really hearing him. Marie, always friendly, chatted with him from time to time, but The Spine seemed now rendered almost completely speechless in her presence, gazing at her over his half eaten sandwich with a look that made Four want to throw his up.

He did hurt for the guy. The more he studied what information his grandpa had left about the blue matter cores and their bond with their original hosts, the more the thought that the key to restoring the world and stopping the living nightmares was putting Rabbit back together. And while Four would be delighted to get The Spine back in all his powerful, gleaming chrome glory, he knew now, beyond a doubt, that "David Walter" would end up with a broken heart.

But as he thought of Rabbit laying, staring at nothing, next to his pile of cleaned and ready clothes and carefully placed hat and goggles, of Jon, inert in a heap of stuffed toys, and of Honeybee, presumably standing alone in that overgrown park, he was feeling less and less pity.

"Peter…"

Three opened his eyes.

The General smiled. "Hey, there, old man. "

Three opened his mouth weakly for a moment, then gave up with a sigh. He should have known the General would come in person. They went way back. They were actually the same age, but Three had never had high aspirations in the army as his friend had. He'd been a general for so long that Three was a little fuzzy on his real name. But Three was fuzzy on a lot of things at the moment.

"No, don't… it's okay. I know you can't speak. You've had a stroke, buddy. But I need to know a few things, if… I don't know. They tell me you may not even be able to understand me."

"That's right, sir, he's in no condition to…" began the nurse.

Three held up his hand weakly, trying to indicate that he _was_ up to it. He had to tell someone, to get word to The Spine, to Four, to the… the _widows_… He didn't even know where Rabbit's power core was, and that frightened him. It had taken a while to remember why he was frightened, but he'd done it.

"Just give us a few minutes alone, please," said the General.

Three pursed his lips, trying to speak. The nurse scowled and left the room.

"Two…" he whispered.

"Two what, old man? Look, maybe… you always were good with a pencil. Here."

He found the nurse's clipboard and pen and recklessly pulled out an empty sheet from the bottom. He put it before Three and put the pen into his hand.

"Try writing it…"

Three held the pen, struggling. He could understand most of what The General was saying, but finding the words to respond… Frustrated, he drew a frown.

"You can't write it either. That's going to make it harder. Still, it could be worse. Yes, it could." He sighed. "I mostly want to know why you were in the middle of nowhere without any identification in your brother's car… but for now I'll have to settle for whatever you can tell me with pictures."

With trembling fingers, Three managed to draw a skull.

"Two… skulls?" Three feebly shook his head, which was aching. The General tried again. "Then… wait, Two was what you called your brother! Oh, no… he's dead?"

Three closed his eyes, tears starting.

The General gently wiped his friend's eyes for him with his handkerchief. "How?"

Three hesitated. He didn't know that the General needed to know that much.

"Come on, old man… how long has it been? I know you're thinking I'll run off to Washington with whatever I learn. Uh-huh, you are. Have I ever done it before? I know your family has its little secrets." He paused. "If… one of the robots has killed your brother…"

Three jabbed the pen at the frown so sharply that it made his head spasm. He winced.

"Head hurt? Maybe we should do this later…"

Three's response was to draw more. A circle, a gear with a circle in the middle, and arrow pointing from a car to the gear, another arrow pointing from the gear to a house. It took a few minutes, it was primitive, but as the General studied it, he finally got the point.

"There's something in that car that needs to get back to your house… no, wait, what's that? Ducks? Oh, Walter Manor. Your family's house? And it looks like a gear. The police have the car, you know. They may have searched it."

Three's eyes widened. He hastily drew an arrow from the gear to the skull.

"It's dangerous? What does it do? No, scratch that… you don't have to draw it."

But Three did draw one last thing. A robot.

"Oh…"


	12. The Good, The Bad, and the Very, Very Ug

The Spine was playing his guitar for her!

Four paced inside the entrance hall, peering out the window at them from time to time. No word from anyone, his mother still refused to set a toe outside her room, and The Spine had turned into Casanova! Apparently he had figured out how to sing with lungs, too because Four could hear him crooning.

"Just head towards my blue eyes, when you're finding your way back to me-e…"

Four hadn't heard that one. Had he written that for her? _Rabbit's the crooner, you jerk!_ he thought irritably, and somewhat irrationally, considering both robots did their share of it. _Why did I encourage this?_

It had been cute at first. He had expected The Spine to have his little romance, see her off, and get back to… well, to being The Spine. He wasn't sure why he thought it would be that simple. Of course it wasn't that simple! The Spine had been turned into a man! What's more, he was a fifty-four-year-old man in the body of a twenty-five-year-old! That just didn't seem right… it was like seeing his dad flirting with a teenager. He sighed.

_You need to grow up, Pete, _he thought. _Because the actual grown-ups have all fallen down on the job._

He looked out the window again. They were kissing! He looked away, feeling queasy, and fought the urge to switch Jon back on and point him toward The Spine… Deciding against it, if only out of pity for Jon, who couldn't seem to stop seeing those little elephants.

The Spine had never been happier in his life… well, in his existence, anyway.

He'd sat up for a couple of hours the night before, writing a song that just wouldn't stop going around his head. He was a little afraid Marie wouldn't like it… she'd said she'd lost her fiancé in the war, and the song spoke of soldiers finding their way home. He'd mentioned that to her before he sang it, and she'd asked him to sing it anyway. It brought tears to her eyes, but it also brought another kiss to his lips. Win.

As sunset approached, he suggested a stroll around the grounds. They were just walking away when he noticed a car pulling up at the gate. It was Two's car! His heart sank, which brought a surge of guilt for his not being happy to see them. He set the guitar on the bench, took Marie by the hand, and went down to open the gate.

Four jogged up as they were nearing the gate. "They're back!" he cried joyfully. "Wait…"

A stranger got out of the driver's seat. "Good afternoon," he said.

"What's happened?" cried Four. "Where are Pops and the others?"

"Calm down, son. I just came from your uncle. I have some rough news for you. Can I come in?"

The three of them sat together in the library, filling the couch. The General, as he had introduced himself, didn't seem interested in sitting. He paced instead, carrying a mysterious, wrapped parcel.

"First off, your uncle has had a stroke." They gasped as one. "Seems he'd had it coming on for a while, but he didn't get to a hospital when he should have. He can't speak. The doctor says he might be able to get back some of his speech in time if he rests, but he really couldn't say for sure how bad it is."

Marie squeezed The Spine's hand comfortingly. He held hers with both of his like it was the only thing saving him from drowning, afraid of what was coming.

"I'll be straight with you boys… miss… I don't really know what happened. Your uncle told me… well, in a manner of speaking, he told me…"

"They're dead," Four said faintly. "Pops… and Guy…"

The General nodded. "Yes. But… there was another man? Well, then, I suppose that explains it… Look, son, I really should tell this to your mother. And this Guy, did he have a family?"

"He has a wife… my sister," Four almost whispered. "My mom won't come out of her room… the nightmares, y'know…"

"You said, 'That explains it.' It explains what?" asked The Spine at the same time, feeling strangely numb. He looked at Marie. She looked back. There were tears in her eyes. Tears for people she'd hardly met. He looked away quickly, swallowing hard. He was going to start himself any second…

"I really should…" the General began.

"It's alright," said The Spine, eyes stinging. "We'll tell them. Just tell us what you know."

"Are you a relative?" The General asked, eyebrow raised.

"He's my uncle," said Four weakly.

"And her?"

"She's…" The Spine hesitated, looking at Marie. She smiled encouragingly, blinking away the tears. Still looking at her, he finished, "My girl."

He experienced a shiver up his back that didn't mix well with the lump in his throat. She squeezed his hand again.

"Ah. Well, alright." He shook his head. "There was an explosion two days ago in what was thought to be an abandoned medical facility, about six hours' drive north of here," he continued, looking hesitantly toward Four, who was trembling. The Spine put his arm around him and held him as the sobs began.

"Are you sure you want me to…" the General said, jerking his head toward Four.

The Spine nodded, just wanting it over. The General shook his head again. "A bunch of guards and scientists had been shot dead all over the halls. Two men were found alive there… with a name I understand you'll find familiar. Becile. One, Ignatius, was injured, and the other…" He shuddered. "Lord knows what you'd call it. Poor bas… I beg your pardon, miss… Poor fella's not human anymore.

"In the middle of their make-shift lab was a glass chamber that held nothing but a pedestal with some wires, and a bunch of small metal objects scattered over the floor. Looked like the contents of a couple of pockets. Change, a house key, a small picture frame. As thought everything else had been… " He stopped and looked at Four. "Well, best not to go further into it… We believe it was Becile that shot all those people so that they couldn't tell about whatever insane experiment they were doing."

"I should have been there…" breathed The Spine, as Four clutched at his shoulder, shuddering as he wept. "I should have gone…" Tears trickled down his cheeks. For once, he was not embarrassed. He was past that.

"Now, son, if you had been there, you most likely would have died, too. Be grateful you're alive to take care of your family." He sighed. "I'll go now, check on your uncle. Here's the name of the hospital where he's being cared for and… Well, he was very adamant that I bring you _this_. I hope you know what to do with it, because he says it's dangerous."

To their astonishment, along with a piece of paper bearing hospital letterhead, he placed Rabbit's power core on the table in front of them. Just like that.

"It's… it's alright, sir. We know exactly what it is…" The Spine said thickly.

"Good… I had my reservations leaving it here. I really shouldn't, y'know, but Peter's an old friend. Take care." With a nod, he left.

The Spine closed his eyes. How much could he survive at once? Almost everything gone in a moment… He should have been happy to see Rabbit's power core, and yet… was Four correct? Was this the end? He couldn't leave his brother on that table, essentially dead. But would saving Rabbit's life end his, as it was now?

His chest was tight… He forced himself to breathe, though he was afraid he would lose control. Had he hurt this badly when Pappy had died? Just half an hour ago, he had been his happiest. Now, he was as low as he had been high, and he felt sick from the journey.

Marie leaned forward. He could almost feel her eyes on him. She let go of his hand and put both arms around the two of them the best she could, her head resting against his shoulder. He put his free arm around her and leaned against her, wanting to savor every second, even in his grief.

For a moment he wanted to be as strong as he once was, to hold onto his pain until he could be alone, to burden no one else… but in the same moment, the idea repelled him. For now, he didn't have to suffer alone. _She_ was here.

He laid his head against hers and wept.

Four was in bed. The Spine had put him there after giving him something to help him sleep.

It was getting late. Marie hadn't left. He wondered whether he should suggest she go. He knew that she had a long drive.

But as they sat close together on that same couch, arms entwined, he knew she wouldn't leave, any more than he could let her go.

Rabbit's power core sat in the lab under a glass dome. The Spine wasn't hesitating to put it in. Not as such. But he needed Four's help, and he wasn't sure when that would be available. He knew it would eat at him until it had been done. He was human… and he knew now he would happily remain human if he could. But he was still The Spine… and he wouldn't let his brother die.

But there was a little more time. Such a little!

Marie nodded against his shoulder and jerked awake. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "It's late, isn't it?"

He looked down at her, taking in every inch of her face. He had to tell her what he was. But he had to tell her something else first.

"Marie…" he whispered. "I… I love you."

She looked into his eyes. "I love you, too, David…"

David… He closed his eyes, pained. _It's always something. Humans can never just feel happy, can they?_ he thought.

She kissed him gently. "I think you'd better get some sleep," she said, misunderstanding his reaction.

He nodded. He kept forgetting he needed it. She got up with him and they walked toward his room. Tired as he was, his eyes opened wide as they reached the doorway.

"Marie… I'm sorry… I didn't think… I need to find you a room!"

"Don't trouble. I don't think you should be alone tonight."

He blushed to his toes. This again. "I… I wouldn't… I don't think it would be right to…" Right? He wasn't even sure he knew how!

She laughed softly. "Don't worry. I won't take advantage of you. My mama didn't raise me to be that kind of girl." She winked.

He looked down, embarrassed... and guiltily, a little disappointed. But, he realized, he wouldn't have asked it of her even if he'd been born to humanity, to a fuller understanding of the need for a cold shower. It just wasn't him.

All the same, a chill went up his back and spent several seconds traveling back and forth across his scalp when she walked into his room, leading him by the hand.

"I'll just stay with you," she continued as she helped him off with his vest. He shivered, but lay down, like a child, at her urging. She kicked off her shoes and curled up next to him. "You have to be strong when your nephew is awake. But you need to have someone be strong for you, too. They're your brothers. I know how much you're hurting. I've lost people I love, too."

That killed the pleasant shivers. How many people _had_ she lost? And now she was going to lose one more…

He looked down into her kind, honest face, the face he loved, and wished he was dead.


	13. The Truth

The Spine woke to the sound of distant conversation and the clinking of dishes. He sat up. He was alone. His heart thumped with fear until he looked at the floor. Marie was gone, but her shoes remained.

He sighed, relieved.

He followed the sound of voices… well, one voice… and was relieved to see her, making toast for Four, who sat, red-eyed, at the table. The Spine relaxed and even managed to smile. _A little longer, Spine_… Every minute counted now.

She saw she was being watched and grinned at him.

"David!"

His smile faded. It was beginning to feel like someone had stabbed him when she called him that.

"Well, you slept well, all things considered." She put more bread in. "I guess I'd better get my shoes."

She walked out, stopping to give The Spine a quick kiss as she went by.

After she left, Four muttered, staring at his uneaten toast, "Yeah, Spine, you slept well. It's only your second time, and you've already got company."

The Spine gave him a puzzled look, then his eyes opened wide. "What?"

"I'm glad losing half your family didn't interfere with you experiencing the joys of being a man," Four muttered, sniffling.

"Pete… we didn't…" The Spine began, in a whisper, his face burning.

"Ah, so that's why I saw her walk out of your room," Four said sarcastically.

"We slept! That's all!"

"That's one way to put it, _David._"

The Spine leaned away slightly. He had been prepared for Four in tears, but not for Four angry. He was growing angry himself. Here he was, being judged for actions he hadn't even gotten to…

"It's over!" Four whispered. "Rabbit's parts are all here. We're fixing him today!"

"Pete… please…" begged The Spine, suddenly afraid.

"The nightmares have to end _now!"_

"They didn't die because of the nightmares! They caused them!"

"Becile caused them! And maybe it won't bring them back, but it'll bring back Rabbit and maybe Honeybee!"

"And if it doesn't bring her back?"

Four sighed impatiently. "Then we give Miss Marie a lift back home on our way to bring Honeybee back, and if you want, you can stay there, get married, and move into the pink house by the pharmacy, and spend every morning eating toast and every night _sleeping,_ and make lots of bug-eating southern cyborgs!"

They heard the click of Marie's heels approaching. Four stood up. In a louder voice, he said, "You can have my toast, _Uncle David_… I'll be in the lab." He hurried out.

"Pete!"

Marie walked into the kitchen. "Is something wrong?" She saw his stricken face and melted. "What am I saying? Of course there is."

She stood near him and stroked his hair_. Even if she understands, it won't be the same_, he thought. _But it has to be done. Pete is right. It _is_ over._

He took her hand and pulled her down to sit on his lap. He'd always wanted to do that. She put her arms around him, leaned down slightly and rested her cheek against his. They were almost eye-to-eye like this. _Ah, yes_, he thought. This was at least as nice as he'd expected it to be!

But he couldn't stop to bask in it. "Marie… I wish we had more time…"

She drew back. "Don't we?"

"Well…" _Just tell her, get it over with, don't make it harder than it is now_. But something puzzled him. "What do you mean? Uh… won't you need to be getting back home sometime…"

"I can stay as long as you need me, David…"

He didn't see himself ever _not_ needing her. He sighed, and smiled painfully. "You may change your mind in a minute."

"Why?" she asked, frowning.

"Come with me."

They stood in the entrance hall. The Spine had his arm around her. He'd found he couldn't be near her without being in some kind of contact.

A big framed portrait hung there. The whole family at the time had been there… Pappy, The Spine, Rabbit, Jon, Iris, Two, and Three.

"Oh! I recognize them… that's the Steam Man Band! I didn't know you were _those_ Walters! You should have said something."

"I should have," he sighed.

"Where are _you_?" she asked, examining the portrait.

He pointed.

"I don't understand…"

"I know. And even when you do, I'm afraid you'll think I'm lying."

"David? What's going on?"

He pointed at each person in the picture. "There's Pappy… that's the original Colonel Peter Walter. Our father. There's his wife, Iris, and their sons, Peter II and Peter III.

"This is Jon… This is Rabbit, the oldest…" _Get on with it,_ he said to himself.

"Rabbit? But that's…" She gasped. "Your brother!"

"And that's… The Spine," he finished miserably.

She gasped, looking at him. "You…"

"Me."

She put her hand to her mouth.

"I'm sorry, Marie… I should never have lied to you."

"But… wait just a danged minute!" She reached up and touched his face, which once again needed a shave, looked into his eyes, ran her fingers through his hair. He shivered, not sure what she was trying to do… but guiltily enjoying it.

She pulled him close and put her head to his chest, listening.

"I'm sorry," she said at last, wrapping her arms around him. "But unless Peter A. Walter was a god, I don't see how he could have built you."

He sighed and took the opportunity to stroke her hair while it was still able to tickle his fingers. He was tempted to leave things where they were. But he knew he wouldn't.

"You've heard about the crazy events going on lately? People saying their nightmares are coming true?"

"Yes…"

"It was caused by us. Well, it was really by a couple of lunatics who took my brother's power source. They lured him out into the middle of nowhere, an abandoned amusement park in Louisiana, and stole it."

"Why so far away?"

"I wondered about that," he said. _It isn't stalling_, he thought_. I'm explaining. It's important to explain things thoroughly… _ _I always did as a robot…_

"It's out of the way," he continued, "but there was something there that would interest him enough to distract his attention. Otherwise, there's no way they could have stolen anything from Rabbit. Unless they gave him ice cream… I don't think they knew that. And I suppose they thought that attacking him in the middle of nowhere would help hide their actions until they could complete their plans.

"And they were nearly right. When we finally found him, he was no more than a statue, and it took far too long, what with bringing him back, to identify the culprits. That was when Two, Three, and Two's son-in-law went to get his power core back. But something went wrong… The rest of that, you already heard."

"I wasn't really listening at the time…" she confessed. "I was worried about you."

He slid his other arm around her back and gave her a little squeeze. His voice trembled as he continued. "Well, something did go wrong in that lab. It sounds as if Two and Guy died instantly…" He stopped, swallowing. She rubbed his back sympathetically. "That's something, at least. They didn't suffer. But something else must have happened in that blast, because at that moment, if I'm correct… I became human. It was part of a nightmare Pete was having at the time. See, when I saw you in Louisiana, I was actually only disguised as a man in order to look for Rabbit."

"Good disguise… It was good enough that I… well… Are you making this up, David?" she asked, words muffled against his chest.

"I wish I was," he sighed. "Just look at the picture again."

She turned her head but didn't let go. "It does look like you…" she said, her voice trembling. She looked up at him. "You lied to me. What I want to know is, how much of it was a lie?"

He closed his eyes. Here it came.

"You really were looking for your brother… but… you never said he was a robot. You said he was a delinquent…

"That's true…"

"Were you lying when you said he's younger than you are?"

"Yes… it made more sense…"

"Were you lying when you said I had a nice smile?"

He opened his eyes again. "No."

"Were you lying when you said you'd come by and see me if you were ever in town again?"

He gulped and forced out the words. "Yes. But that was because…"

"What about when you said you wrote that song for me?"

"Marie…" he pleaded miserably.

"Well?"

"I wrote that after you left last night!" he cried, increasingly agitated. "After you kissed me. I promise!"

"And here's the big one…" Tears were flowing freely down her face now. He tried to wipe them away but she caught his hand and held it firmly. "Were you lying when you said you love me?"

"No!" he exclaimed. He clamped his eyes shut, trying to keep from crying again. Why was she making this so hard?

"That's good," she murmured. "Neither was I." She kissed him on the fingers and put her head again his chest again.

But she pulled away just as quickly. The Spine was shuddering with suppressed sobs.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered. "It's not easy, learning to be human, is it?"

He shook his head vigorously, eyes and mouth clamped shut. _There I go again, blubbering like a child…_

"Are you alright?" she asked.

_Am _I _alright? She's actually worried about me? _He drew a ragged, gasping breath and pulled her close again. She sighed and settled in against him as the shuddering gradually slowed to a stop.

"Poor love… You're… you're not going to stay a man, are you?" she asked, finally coming to it. "It's not permanent…"

"Four thinks it's not," he forced himself to whisper. "He thinks that once we put the power core back where it belongs and reboot Rabbit…"

"Everything will go back to normal."

_Whatever that is_, he thought. "Yes."

"And you don't want to…"

He paused for a moment before confessing, "No… but there's no other way…"

"When?" she asked quietly.

He swallowed hard. "We have the core. We need to put it back in as soon as we can. He… he's my brother. I can't put my happiness before his life."

"So sweet…" she breathed, hugging him tighter. "That's what I love about you…"

His eyes opened wide. "Aren't you angry at all?"

"I can't be angry at you, Da…" There was an awkward pause. "What should I call you?"

He pressed his cheek against her head, just relieved that she hadn't pushed him away and run out the door. "Whatever you want."

"David," she said with certainty.

"Marie," he answered, human for a little while longer. "Will you stay, please, while we fix him? Stay as long as you can… Until my flesh becomes metal again and you can't stand to be near me anymore…"

"Oh, please. Give me some credit. I haven't even seen you face to face as a robot. Let me see you as yourself, David… as The Spine. As far as I've seen, flesh or metal, you've never been anything but the sweetest man I've ever known."

"You haven't met Jon," he murmured as she looked up into his face.

He kissed her, hoping it wasn't for the last time. Neither seemed inclined to let it end, but it seemed as though every resonant tick of the grandfather clock in the entrance hall was directed at them. The Spine had a terrible urge to break it. Walter household furnishings being what they were, he was pretty sure the clock was doing it on purpose.

They parted reluctantly and went, hand in hand, down to the lab.


	14. Turpentine Erase Me Whole

Four was spreading everything out, getting ready to begin. He looked up when they came in. His expression, automatically defensive, softened when he looked at The Spine.

"You've told her."

"He has," she said.

Four looked at them together and sighed. "Then I guess we hope that not everything will change back."

It was a nice gesture, but The Spine knew how bright Four was. His theory was probably correct. And now that he had spoken with Marie, told her who he really was, and found she did not reject him, The Spine was calm. They'd had a little time as man and woman… more than he could ever have dreamed. And if it would never be enough, well, it would just _have_ to be enough.

"Is that Rabbit?" she asked as they approached the table. She gasped. "Look at those eyes! He's beautiful, David."

"So's his brother," murmured Four, setting out oil and a pitcher of water.

She looked at The Spine, "Yes, he is."

The Spine blushed again, but had the presence of mind to enjoy it while it lasted.

They set to work at last, first doing basic maintenance, then repairing leads where Becile had less than gracefully removed them, tearing some of the wiring. The Spine, with the history of a robot and the stomach of a human, found it a little sickening… or perhaps that was the anticipation of what lay ahead.

They talked as they worked, telling Marie about Jon, and Rabbit, and Honeybee, about the day Honeybee broke Rabbit's heart… literally… when she knocked him halfway across the hall of science. The Spine made a mental note to ask the steel automaton why she did it, the next time they met; they'd been too worried about Rabbit to go into it before.

Then they told her about the song Rabbit wrote when he thought she was lost forever. The record player was still in the lab, but The Spine sang it instead, feeling for the first time that he understood it. He did the best he could while becoming repeatedly (and frustratingly) choked up. Four tried to sing the other parts while soldering wiring. They said that Rabbit sang it better. Marie, wiping tears, said they had sung it beautifully.

Then they told her about Rabbit's flight to find Honeybee and bring her back. Marie pronounced it all to be "so romantic," and said that Colonel Walter must have been quite a guy to have made such beings. The Spine blushed yet again and Four, in spite of the pain of the last day, found himself smiling. He was going to miss seeing The Spine, usually so cool, wear his heart on his sleeve.

After a couple of hours, they stopped to eat. Almost everything was ready. Rabbit's boiler was filled, his joints oiled, the leads fresh and ready to be connected. Marie had brought down the leftover sandwiches from the day before, apologizing for being useless at cooking much beyond toast.

The Spine didn't care. It was his last meal, he was sure. What did it matter what it was?

And then it was time to connect the power core. There was a strange feeling in the room… much like the feeling that had come over The Spine during that last kiss… an urgency mingled with a reluctance to move. They all showed signs of it as they sat around, nibbling loose bits of lettuce from their plates, having one last sip of water.

It was easy to say they should do the right thing, to save Rabbit's life. It was another thing entirely to complete the task, under the circumstances.

It was Four, of course, who spoke first.

"It's time, Big Brother." He didn't sound very eager.

The Spine gripped the table, eyes on his empty plate. He had wanted to be human before… well, not the way Jon did, but he had wanted it. However, he had been content to remain as he was, never been quite sure whether the good of humanity could outweigh the bad.

He hadn't counted on Marie.

She put her hand on his. "It's alright, David..."

He had been ready before, he was sure he had, but now he couldn't move. "I'm sorry, Marie… I wasn't trying to hurt you."

Four got up quietly and went back to the work table, where he began unnecessarily straightening the tools.

"Me? You're worried about me? I promise I'll be alright, my love."

_My love_… His neck went hot and cold. He wanted her to say it again, but instead she said, "Would The Spine let his brother stay dead for his own happiness?"

He blushed at his hesitation, but pressed his lips together and shook his head.

"Then my David wouldn't, either."

She rose, taking him by the hand, and led him to the table. "Save your brother."

It was done. Every wire connected, clamps holding the core firmly in place, according the yellowed specifications Four had found in the bottom desk drawer in the lab. The Spine had worked on Rabbit many times, but the power core had always been connected. He'd never needed to know exactly how. Rabbit sat upright on the table, dressed once more in his suit of clothes, slumped forward but stable, his hat and goggles beside him. He looked like a puppet in need of strings.

The Spine put down his wrench and walked over to Marie. This part he had always seen in his mind, even when he wasn't sure he'd ever have the courage to go through with it. He would stay by her for every second of it of the start-up, and if he remained human, he would stay by her forever.

If he changed back… that option he hadn't let himself contemplate.

Marie stood up just in time to be swept up in his arms. He buried his face in her hair, letting the inevitable tears start.

"Alright, Pete!" he called pitifully, his voice cracking.

"Aw, Spine…" said Pete, sounding slightly nasal. "I feel like I'm sticking a knife in your back when you say it like that!"

The Spine actually laughed. One last tension-dispelling laugh that the others, surprised, joined in a moment after.

With a deep sigh, The Spine drew back to look into Marie's eyes. He felt strangely peaceful now, whatever happened. "It's alright, Pete.," he said, taking her hand. "This is what it's been about since the day we found him missing. Bringing Rabbit home." He brought her fingers to his lips. She reached up and stroked his face. "Just switch him on and pray we connected everything correctly."

"Alright…" Four faltered uncomfortably, not sorry to look away from the two of them. He never would have expected this… physical… side of The Spine… any further delays and they'd need to call a preacher. He shuddered and quickly found Rabbit's power switch.

Click.

As the systems check activated Rabbit's blue matter reactor, The Spine kissed Marie with the desperation of a man going to his execution. Then he held her close, clinging to her and hoping to find the courage to face it when it came… if it came…

Marie trembled and held on, even when her David stopped breathing.


	15. Don't Want to Live My Life Alone

Four's only response to the confirmation, taking place before his eyes, of his solid understanding of blue matter reactors, was to drop the wrench he'd been holding loudly onto the table and sink unhappily onto the stool behind him. When the echoes from this had settled, the room was almost silent except for the sound of whirring gears, well-oiled metal parts shifting smoothly through the remaining steps of a detailed systems check for a robot who had been partially dismantled and offline for a week… a week that had seemed much longer.

Almost silent… in between the clanks and whirrs, the sound of a quieter steam powered automaton could be heard from halfway across the room.

Next to Rabbit, there was the burbling hum of a small battery operated motor belonging to a third robot, bound to a wheelchair. She looked around her frantically, her flat eyes finally resting upon the copper robot just starting to move next to her, and began to shake with metallic sobs of relief. As before, she almost tipped out of her chair, but this time Four, with effort, caught her and tipped her back upright.

"Thank you, man-child," she said. "It was real… it _was_ real…"

"Man-child?" Four asked, smiling crookedly.

"I must have had a dream… it was horrible…"

"It's over now, Miss Honeybee," said Four, looking askance at The Spine. Rabbit was just finishing his systems check. If everything was connected correctly, any second he'd look up and see them all… Honeybee, alive, The Spine, same as ever… _except_, thought Four, _that he's wearing no vest or tie or hat and his sleeves are rolled up and there's a beautiful woman fastened to his middle!_

And sure enough, Rabbit came fully online. A scant second later, he heard Rabbit cry, "Attaboy, Spine! Now you're c-c-cookin' with gas! Pete Four, what's up?"

Four looked up from straightening Honeybee at the same time as Rabbit looked down. Rabbit went very still.

Marie looked quickly over at the copper robot. "Is he alright?"

Four stepped out of the way as Rabbit hopped off the table and sank to his knees by the wheelchair.

"Honeybee?" he said gently, eyes wide. He broke into a smile. "Honeybee! Do ya know me?"

"Rabbit!" she replied happily. He giggled.

"She said my n-n-name again… Honeybee, what happened? How did we get back here?"

"That was us," said Four. "You're lucky we found you." There was an almost unnoticeable tremor in his voice as he said, "Pops fixed her."

"D-d-did something go wrong? She's in Pappy's old wheelchair…"

"Her legs don't work properly."

"Oh..." He seemed caught off-guard by this. "Well," he said, grinning charmingly at Honeybee, "we'll have to take care of that, won't we, baby? We'll fix that arm right up, too."

"What do you mean, 'we,' Rabbit?" muttered The Spine, still attached to Marie.

Rabbit ignored him. "I _love_ what you've done with y-y-y-your eyes, Honey," he cooed. "They're so… _familiar_."

Honeybee beamed and held out her remaining hand. He took and leaned forward as if to kiss it, but stopped short and leaned away a little, one eyebrow raised.

"Saaay… why did you hit me, baby?"

"I'm so sorry, Rabbit! I… I tried not to. I guess I just wasn't brought up properly."

"That's okay, baby. I love you, anyway." He kissed her hand and ducked dramatically, as though he'd just thrown a grenade. When nothing happened, he grinned and stood up.

"So… Spine…" He said mischievously, winking toward his brother. "Who's the pretty d-d-doll fastened to your shirt?"

Marie smiled and gave a little wave as The Spine, gleaming silver, looked up with an oil-streaked face. In two steps he'd crossed the room and enveloped his brother in a crushing hug, just as Rabbit was lifting his hand to wave back.

"Spine! We just fixed him!" cried Four.

"F-f-fix me? I'm better'n I ever was!" Rabbit said, squeezing his brother to prove it. Something pinged but he ignored it. The Spine, hearing it too, released him quickly.

He looked Rabbit in the eye. "If you _ever_ run off again," he said, his voice once more low and even, "I'll bring you home in a shoebox."

"Don't be silly! You couldn't fit more'n my head in a shoebox…" Rabbit's eyes widened. Honeybee gasped.

"I think I've made my point."

"Aw, Spine," he whined, stomping his foot a little for emphasis, "I _had_ ta go! She was all alone in the woods. I _knew _she was there! It's like she was c-c-callin' to me to come and save her! I was her _cowboy_, Spine! You know you _love_ cowboys…"

The Spine clenched his fists and turned away. He wanted to enjoy Rabbit being Rabbit, to feel overjoyed that he was not only back but was thoroughly himself again, to roll his eyes at the excessive use of italics, but he was angry… and for once, _not_ with Rabbit. He understood why Rabbit went. If his own problems could be solved as easily, he'd happily run off to Louisiana himself. A day ago, he'd actually been tossing around the idea…

But even if he did enjoy it, did try to be happy… just like everything else, he thought bitterly, it wouldn't last. Rabbit was happy, but there was so much he didn't know. What would it do to him when he found out?

"What'd I _say_, Spine?" Rabbit asked pitifully, sticking out his lower lip.

"We'll talk later," said Four. Rabbit was, as usual, dancing on land mines. It was both gratifying and painful to see him so exuberant.

Rabbit watched The Spine mournfully for a moment before looking back at Honeybee. "A-a-alright!" Rabbit said, apparently forgetting all other matters as soon as he saw her. "Come on, baby, let's go meet The Jon!"

"We've met," she said sweetly.

Rabbit frowned, but was only momentarily set back. With a grin, he offered, "Well, have you met Two and Three?"

"They're… not here right now," said The Spine over his shoulder. He risked a glance at Marie. She was smiling sadly at him; he could see the pity in her eyes. Pity. He looked away quickly. _It's over_, he thought, longing for a fedora to cover his gleaming head.

Rabbit looked rebellious. He brightened. "Aww… I know! You can meet Pappy!"

The Spine looked at him sharply. Had something gone wrong?

"C'mon, baby! Let's go get the d-d-duck bread!"

There was a loud, collective sigh of relief from The Spine, Four, and Honeybee. Rabbit simply meant to feed the ducks in the cemetery where Peter Walter I was buried, as he usually did. He looked at the wheelchair and the short lab stairs for a moment in puzzlement, giggled, shrugged, and scooped Honeybee up in his arms instead. He staggered for a moment, adjusted to the unexpected weight, and carried Honeybee proudly away, her head resting on his shoulder as he chattered happily to her about the ducks.

Four sighed. "We'll have to tell him sooner or later, Spine. But it's going to…" He stopped.

"It's going to ruin all of _that_? Maybe… or maybe Honeybee will get him through it."

"_She_'ll be okay with it… she doesn't have much use for humans, does she? I can't really blame her…"

The tremor was back in his voice. The Spine walked over and hugged him; carefully, as he was still readjusting to his body.

"You did great, Pete. Your dad would be proud."

Four sniffled loudly. "Yeah… I think he would." He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "Oh! We have to go see Uncle Peter as soon as we can. I don't even know what his condition is!"

"I can drive you," Marie offered.

They jumped. She had been so quiet that they had momentarily forgotten her. The Spine felt a decidedly un-robotic rush of pain and guilt. _You'd think I was still human_, he thought bitterly.

"Well… it'll have to wait until we've told Rabbit and switched Jon back on… well, maybe we should hold off on that… there's going to be enough heart-broken robots… Oh, I'm sorry!" Four shook his head. "I'll just go help with the ducks…" He ran up the lab steps, two at a time.

If he hadn't felt so rotten, The Spine would have smiled.

"I meant it, you know," she said after he had gone.

"It's alright," he told Marie. He didn't look at her. "You don't have to…"

"Why not?"

He'd thought it would be obvious. "I just supposed you'd want to be getting back to your sister's…"

She took hold of his hand. "I don't."

He looked at her, surprised. "You… _don't_ want to be getting back…?"

"I think you still need someone to be strong for you. I get the feeling it's a regular thing for you to be strong for everyone else."

More pity. "Someone has to," he said softly as she took hold of his other hand.

"I know. They have a lot to get through now. It's going to be hard. Remember, I've been there. I lost the man I loved. I thought he'd be back, just like you said in your song, but he never came back. There wasn't even a body."

This, unsurprisingly, wasn't making him feel better. "Marie, why…"

"Please don't make me go through that heartache again."

He still didn't understand. "How could I…"

She reached up and caught him by the collar. He didn't resist as she drew him down to her. "Quit being humble," she said, her face close to his. "It's making things difficult. I'm just telling you I'm staying."

"Okay…" he replied, dazed.

She kissed him. Steam poured out of his collar. His heart no longer pounded when she touched him, of course. But _something_ was happening...

He had always had emotions; in fact, he was currently feeling several of them at once. But he thought of stopping her, because if this went on much longer, he wouldn't be able to let her go… and he knew he couldn't ask her to stay.

Before he could try, to make the noble gesture, free her to live a "normal" human life… she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his chest, just as she had done before, when a heart had been beating inside it.

"Marie…" he whispered. No, it wasn't the same. But it really wasn't _all that_ different, he decided...

"You know, you're shaped the same, David. Your Pappy did a great job. There are odd bumps here and there, but it's not just some smooth metal sheet… the shape is human. And the sounds in your chest are just like a heartbeat… and breathing…"

He was only half-hearing her.

_She's still calling me David… _

He realized he was being stupid. Why did he assume she would want to leave now? He had made the choice to stop being human. And Marie was making her own choice… to not let that stand in her way.

"Th-that's my pump… and bellows… I don't have to breathe all the time, but it keeps my systems cooled…" he babbled, struggling with the strange feeling of joy... It didn't seem right, with everything that had happened...

"Shush… I'm listening to your heart."

She always had. He put his arms around her as gently as he could. He could feel her hair even though it didn't tickle his fingers. He could feel the movement of her breathing. He could feel it when she held him close.

He gave up. "I love you," he sighed.

"I love you, _Spine_," she said.

"Call me David…"

"Spine… David…" She looked up, studying his face. "Doesn't matter. You know, I always did like silver…" she murmured. She touched his cheek. "Your face… it's the same… only in silver. Beautiful…"

The compliment, along with the convenient position of her head, earned her a kiss.

"Wait…" he said suddenly, mid-kiss, accidentally blowing steam up her nose. She sneezed. "Oh… sorry… "

She laughed, a funny, wheezing laugh in the wake of the sneeze, resting her forehead against him until she could catch her breath. He didn't join in as easily as before… a bellows didn't create the sound as readily as lungs. He grinned, and found it was enough.

"What about your sister?" he asked, when she had recovered.

"Living out here, I'll get to see her more often."

"No, I meant… Out where?"

"Here, in California."

"With… with your sister?" That would be alright, he reasoned. But he had his own ideas… and hesitated to ask.

"That's one option…" she said innocently. "But I think I'd prefer to find somewhere... closer..."

_Just what I was thinking..._ Feeling surprisingly human, he murmured, "Here. In Walter Manor. Live here."

She nodded. He sighed, for now content. One problem had taken care of itself, one pain vanished. He wasn't ready for the others just yet.

"Spine!" cried Jon, leaping alarmingly down the lab steps.

Marie jumped, but The Spine refused to let go or look around. "Who switched you on, Jon?" he asked sternly.

Jon ran in. "They're gone!"

That did it. "It's okay, Jon…" he cried, turning. "It was over quickly…"

"But they're gone! I can't play with them anymore!" He started to wail.

"Well… I suppose not…" The Spine was sure he'd missed something.

"I liked it when they chased meeee…"

_You gotta be kidding me. _"The little copper elephants, Jon?"

Jon nodded, blubbering.

"I was afraid of that… Well, come here, big guy." The Spine hugged him. "Maybe we can get you a stuffed elephant."

"I don' _wanna_ stuffed elephant!" he wailed.

"Jon…" He sighed and hugged him again. "Marie, this is Jon."

Marie beamed as Jon shuddered with misery and pitifully tipped his hat to her.

"S'pretty," Jon snuffled shyly.

"Come on, Jon…" said The Spine. He'd been sure Jon had found out what had happened, and he didn't want to go around any longer with his brothers wondering where the family had gone. It was time to tell everyone the truth, about the deaths… and a few other things. "I need to get the family together in the library to talk about something important. You want to help?"

Jon brightened. "We're having a meeting! I'll tell everybody!"

"Good idea, Jon. You're great at delivering messages, aren't you?"

Jon beamed, nodded, and ran up the lab steps.

"Impressive," said Marie.

The Spine looked at her questioningly.

"You'd make a good father, David," she said.

He was a robot with a silver metal chassis, but he was sure he had managed to blush somehow.


	16. Epilogue

Michael Reed, robot mechanic and One-Man Band, was sometimes quiet, but not often speechless.

Hatchworth had brought him something surprising… a stack of scrapbooks he had found while burrowing through Jon's stuffed animal pile looking for Rabbit during a game of hide and seek. For some reason, Hatchworth never looked for the telltale plume of steam to help him locate his brother.

Knowing Jon, Michael wasn't surprised that he had chosen to make these collections of memories, or to keep them secret… especially when he looked inside.

Some weren't too serious… Collections of newspaper clippings about the Steam Man Band over the years, concert photos, pictures of friendly squirrels in Balboa Park. Each squirrel looked the same but he was sure Jon had known each of them by name.

Other albums were more sensitive, like those holding photos of soldiers in the various wars in which the robots had served, or times that the robots had been called in to help in disaster-stricken areas. Their trip to New Orleans took up an entire book.

Then he came to a scrapbook with a cardboard cover that had been colored in black and yellow stripes with crayon. He eagerly opened it, suspecting rightly that it was about Honeybee. It had everything, from a brochure for the 1933 Chicago World's Fair to a photo of Honeybee's funeral in 1965, just before the robots left for Vietnam.

Michael sighed. He'd never had the chance to meet Honeybee. She had malfunctioned from time to time since they had found her, he'd heard… the perfect girl for Rabbit, he thought with a smile. Unfortunately, the part that had malfunctioned the most was her brain, and one day, it had just… stopped. They'd offered to try and fit her with a blue matter core, but she'd refused. From what the headstone in Walter Cemetery reported, she and Rabbit had only had fifteen years together, after seventeen apart.

It was a romance worthy of an Edwardian novel… as well as a love song… despite the fact that Rabbit was on one side of it. If it weren't for the heartfelt quality of the song, he would have been more skeptical about the romance. But Rabbit only recently had been willing to start singing it for regular audiences in Balboa Park, just a few years back, and still malfunctioned regularly in the process. They'd managed to cut a single but it had required several tries and a lot of cutting to remove all the glitching. It was new ground for him, but Michael was pretty sure that was as close as a robot could get to true love.

Steve Negrete stumped into the library and plopped down beside him. "What's with the photo albums?"

"They're Jon's. I can't believe he just left them under his plushies and headed off to see the world. There's some incredible clippings in some of these."

"Jon's into scrapbooking?" Steve looked through the squirrel scrapbook and laughed. "Seriously?"

"Not that one! Check this out." He shoved the bee-striped book at him.

Steve flipped through it and whistled. "Wow, don't show it to Rabbit. I heard he was dealing with losing her pretty well, but why take chances?" He looked over at the stack. "Pass me another one."

Michael, deep in a scrapbook about various robotic advancements over the last 100 years, scooped up a book trimmed in white lace and dropped it in his lap. "There's a manly one for ya."

"I'm not proud. Actually, I was wondering why Jon would use white lace… Rainbow, I could see." He opened the book… and froze.

Michael didn't notice at first, as he was examining a small clipping about early computers. Steve flipped through the pages almost frantically.

Michael, unable to concentrate, looked up and said, "What?"

"Dude… this _had_ to have been some kind of publicity stunt…"

"Let's see." Michael scooped up the scrapbook and flipped through. His jaw dropped.

There was a clicking noise at the doorway, and a gush of steam. Rabbit trundled in and scooped up the striped book from where Steve had carelessly dropped it, before they, distracted as they were, could stop him.

"What's this?" he yelled brightly. He opened it and flipped through it all in one go.

"Rabbit?" said Steve worriedly when the automaton froze on the spot.

Rabbit, staring with his eyes wide at a random spot on the far wall, slowly clutched the scrapbook to his chest plate, wrapping both arms tightly around it. "It's beautiful…" he said, his voice squeaking dramatically. Oil began to trickle from both eyes. "I hafta g-g-go f-feed the d-d-ducks…"

He was gone, clutching the scrapbook, before they could ask him about the white lace album.

"Well, that was… unexpected," said Steve.

Michael shrugged. "He didn't shut down. That's the good part. He's going to be emo for days, though…"

He returned to the white photo album, leafing through it more slowly. The picture that caught his attention most was at the beginning. A young man with strong Walter features, wearing a fedora, was standing in the park, holding hands with a pretty girl, smiling and posing for the camera. He had his vest and tie draped over his arm as though they had gotten too warm.

What was troubling was that the one Walter, in all the household portraits, that he most resembled… was Peter A. Walter I. The man in the picture was almost identical to him. And while the twins had resembled their father, the only family members whose faces were an exact match… were robots.

He couldn't be sure, not knowing the height of the woman, but it seemed to him that this Walter was fairly tall… That led to one likely culprit… The Spine. Maybe his human disguise… but The Spine didn't get too warm, as this man clearly was. Besides, The Spine's wig was good, but not _that_ good… and there was the five-o'clock shadow…

And most confusing of all, below the picture was written, in Jon's neatest writing, "David and Marie."

"Who's David?" said Michael. Steve shrugged.

The next few pages left them even more bewildered.

"That's a nice cake…" said Steve. "Hm… small ceremony."

"I'd think it would be! Is this even legal, that's what I want to know…"

"What, the cake?"

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I know."

"It's just… I don't think it's a stunt, Steve. It says David here but just inside the cover… 'The Spine and Marie.'"

"Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue… Marie! Oh, stupid! You remember that mystery headstone out in the cemetery? The one no one talks about?"

"Oh, yeah… Marie Walter," said Michael, looking at Steve. "Yeah, that_ is_ interesting. You ever notice the epitaph?"

"No… What is it?"

"'Beloved wife.'"

"Ho-ly crap…"

There was a thunderous, clock-ticking pause.

"Seriously?"

"Well, yeah, it does say that…"

"But come _on!_" Steve cried. "It's… it's… no. Just no."

"Why not?"

"Well, first of all… The Spine."

"What?"

"In love? Mr. Cool?"

"Sure! She dies, he keeps it a secret, won't talk about her to anyone? It totally fits. Probably has a little shrine to her in his closet."

"Oh, please…"

"Honeybee sometimes gets to him, didn't you notice?"

"Notice what, exactly? It's been one flawless performance after another from him."

"Except for Saturday. The piercing electrical shriek? They blamed you?"

"Well, yeah, but that was…"

"You never figured out why the mic did that when it came to his line, did you?"

"No, not as such…"

"See?" Michael said, smugly. "He lost it."

"That was a fluke. Besides, there's no sign there was ever another woman here outside of the ones we know!"

"What about the old start-up sequence?"

"What about it? I never heard it."

"The voice had a southern accent. I never could understand why. They just said the lady who recorded it had one. Weak."

"That proves nothing. There's still no trace of her in the house."

"Have you searched every inch of it? It's the freakin' House of Many Ways…"

"The what?" Steve raised one eyebrow.

"It's a book. Look, Steve, Spine's old… a guy who's been around over one hundred years… Think of all the secrets he could have!"

"But seriously, now, let's just think about this. Going somewhere I really don't want to go right now, bear with me…"

"Don't, man…"

"Married? Man and wife? Til death do us part?" He cleared his throat. "A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife…"

"Stop it, Steve."

"…And they shall be one…"

"Seriously, don't even go there…"

"Flesh," he finished mercilessly. "But how, Mike?"

"I'm not listening."

"You can't tell me he's capable…"

Michael plugged his ears and started singing the refrain from "Brass Goggles."

Steve waited patiently until Michael opened one eye, gave him a stern look, and unplugged his ears.

"No more about it, man. I mean it."

Steve nodded and they sat in silence for a moment before he cried, "Let's ask The Spine!"

"No!" cried Michael, eyes wide.

"Aww… Why not?"

"Why… why _not_?" Michael was almost speechless. "Why not ask him about what we're pretty sure is his dead wife? Why not ask him how they…? No. No way."

"Aww..."

_Hum. Hiss_.

Steve looked at Michael. Michael looked pale.

They had each noticed it at the same time. Directly behind them.

"Oh, crap…" muttered Steve.

The Spine fixed each in turn with a cold but otherwise inscrutable stare, silently tweaked the scrapbook from Michael's unresisting hands, and left as quickly as Rabbit had. Each man exhaled the breath he was holding… The Spine could be surprisingly scary, and his silences were the worst.

"Forgot the whole place was wired…" Michael whispered breathlessly. "Still want to ask him?"

Steve shook his head.

On his way back to the Hall of Wires, The Spine flipped through the scrapbook eagerly. Jon, though he could just about kill him for it, had been thorough. He lingered longest on the first picture, smiling through oily tears. _David and Marie. _So that's where it had gone! He eventually closed the book and wrapped his arms around it, clutching it to his chest-plate, though he didn't know it, exactly as Rabbit had.


End file.
